Fugue
by Zefyria Nuva
Summary: 1.) a musical composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one voice and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the voices as one. 2.) a state of loss of awareness of one's own identity.
1. Overture

I - Overture

In his arms Alto held a broken angel, and everything about this was _wrong._

Another voice spoke through him. He could hear its conversation with the ears they shared. He could feel Elcrest's sorrow in every catch of every syllable in their chest. Why did it have to be this way? There had to be something. Alto could feel it vibrating just off-kilter at the edges of his mind, a discordant jangle seeking his attention. There was something they were forgetting. Something they had missed.

"I feel at peace," the shattered doll said in a shattered voice. "How long has it been since I felt this way?"

And then there was a spark. But Elcrest hadn't felt it. He was concerned only with the creature, the person, the dear old friend he held cradled in his arms, and Alto's throat went taut. If he was wrong, if Elcrest refused to let him do this, if—

"Elcrest, please... While I'm still at peace..."

"No," Alto said.

He could feel the intake of breath from everyone around him. He felt Elcrest's anger spike inside his chest. A shudder rocked through Xeno's body, and now he was beginning to laugh, a soft, sad, bitter laugh, but there was no time to explain, not to any of them.

The Song Stone glowed. Alto pressed the palm of his hand flat against the dip at Xeno's collarbone and a pale answering glow guttered to life beneath his palm. Elcrest went silent, and Alto could feel his shock humming through both of them, reflecting his own. The why, the _how,_ that would be important later. For right now, all he could do was close his eyes and reach deep within.

* * *

They fell.

Alto caught glimpses on the way down. Bursts of purple-black flame. Blurs of gold and silver light chasing each other across a shifting sky. They seemed to fall forever, and then their feet touched ground inlaid with familiar checker-boarded flagstones. His eyes skimmed the area, noting every orange-lined tile, and then looked up and up past the tiered heights into what passed for the sky here. Hung across the backdrop was a mural like those he had seen many times before, one that looked like it might have been made of paper or paint. It showed a planet against a field of distant, tiny stars. A sun and a moon chased each other rapidly around it, leaving trails of gold and silver fire in their wake.

"This shouldn't be possible!" Dr. Veronica whirled in almost a full circle. Her head snapped left and right, catching every single detail. "We're inside a spirit world, but—"

"Popo thought only witches could have spirit worlds." Popo looked dubiously around her, one hand already closed tight in Lisette's sleeve. "But this isn't any of ours..."

"You're right," Alto said. He looked even higher, and his breath caught, because there was the gemstone that hung suspended above them. It glowed a brilliant orange-yellow and radiated points like a compass rose. And beneath it on one of the lower tiers stood the malformed Xeno, who stared down at his own hands in shock.

"How...?"

"Klaus!" Alto called, already dashing for one of the moving panels. "I'm coming up there!"

Xeno recoiled as though he had been burned. "No! You stay away from me! I don't know what you've done to me, but—"

"What _he_ did to you?!" Rusty scoffed. "Is this guy for real?! Damn it, Klaus, just get down from there, or we're coming up!"

Xeno shook his head wildly. He threw his arms out to the sides. Lights flared up across several of the checkered flagstones as Alto sprinted over them. From each light rose an angel, but not the angels they had grown used to fighting—these looked as though they had been made of coalesced darkness, with laser-red spots in the center of their eyes. One of them turned and lashed out at Alto as he passed. He dove, tucked into a roll, and came out safely on the other side. When he looked back, he found the others surrounded, and hesitated, gripping the hilt of his sword.

Sakuya bared her teeth in a fierce smile and drew her blade. "Don't waste time worrying about us, idiot!" she said, dropping into stance. "I think we can handle a few angels."

"Reach my master, Alto," Giselle said, readying her claws. "You are the only one who can."

"We will hold the line here," Archibald said. "Go!"

Alto breathed in. He stepped onto the first of the rising panels, and then looked over his shoulder again at the closing battle. "Hilda! With me!"

Hilda glanced up. Her golden eyes were unreadable. Moments later she had warped past the closing line of angels and joined Alto on another of the panels. She turned her eyes upward to the tier above them, where Xeno had already begun to yell in wordless frustration and retreat further away from them.

"What are you going to do, Alto?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Alto shot her a very small smile. "I'm going to do what only I can do."

They reached the second tier. Xeno's eyes flashed between the two of them. He took several steps back, already lifting his hands. "I said stay _away!"_

The flagstones rippled with the same reddish light, but Alto and Hilda both were already on the move. The two of them dodged around and through blockades of shadowy angels. Any time Alto found himself surrounded, Hilda's magic was already in motion, switching him out so he could continue forward while she took only another moment to catch up. Below them, faintly, Alto could hear the sounds of his friends battling, but he had to pay attention here. He had to trust them. And he had to keep pushing forward.

They reached the opposite end of the second tier just as Xeno disappeared over the lip of the third. Hilda looked at the sole remaining panel, then upward to the lip, gauging the distance. She winked out of existence, leaving Alto to step on the platform himself.

"Xeno!" he heard her call from above him. "Why are you running away from us?"

"You shouldn't be here!" Xeno's voice was a raw snarl. "This place shouldn't exist! It can't! I'm not—"

"You _are."_ Alto topped the edge of the third tier in time to see Hilda lift a hand, pointing upward at the great crystal that hung just over their heads. "Look up, Xeno! What do you think that is? What do you think it _means?"_

Xeno shook his head, backing away. "No. No! It's a trick! It's a lie!"

"It's a qualia," Alto said softly. _"Your_ qualia."

Xeno's head snapped towards him. Alto was advancing now, with slow, cautious steps, hemming Xeno in against the corner of this final tier. Behind him there was nothing but the wild abyss of his own soul. Xeno's heel hit the edge, and he froze, his chest heaving. "Leave me alone," he said. "Stop tormenting me. Just let me die while I still remember why I have to!"

"No," Alto said, and took another step closer. "Don't you see? You _don't_ have to! You've suffered so much, Klaus, and I'm going to free you from that suffering. But I'm not going to kill you."

The back of Xeno's heel tipped over the edge again. He shivered, a ripple that traveled from the tips of his wings straight through every panel of armor on his body. And then he looked up. Alto could see the orange glow of the qualia reflecting from of his eyes. The same color glinted off his armor and hair, leaving highlights that wavered like an unsteady flame.

Alto took another step. He held out his hand, and Xeno met his eyes with wide ones of his own. "There's been enough death," Alto said. "There's been enough despair. It's time to end it and come home."

"Home," Xeno echoed in a barely-audible voice. One final, full-body shudder ran through him. Then his wings lowered, and he lifted a hand towards Alto, reaching out to him with trembling fingers. "I want to go home, Elcrest."

Alto smiled sadly. "We'll go home together," he said, taking Xeno's hand. "All of us."

And the world shattered around them.

* * *

Xeno let out a choked, wheezing gasp, his fingers digging at the chalky dust beneath him. "Elcrest—"

"Master!" Giselle dropped to her knees beside him and seized his hand. "Lie still. You are badly injured."

Lisette stepped forward. Hesitated, gripping her staff tightly in both hands. Then she knelt and spread her palm across Xeno's chest. "This won't bring him all the way back," she said as he hand began to glow, "but I can do enough that he won't be in pain." She looked up at Alto with a solemn expression. "Alto...are you sure he's going to be alright like this? If we just leave him here..."

Alto gave Xeno a long look. He lay quietly now with his eyes closed. His breathing still came in long, labored vents, but now at least the strange, choking rattle in his throat was gone. Giselle shifted him so that his head and torso rested in her lap, and his breathing eased a little further.

"Giselle," Alto said.

"I wish to stay with my master," she said without lifting her head.

Alto gave her a tired smile. "I was about to ask you to do exactly that." She blinked up at him, looking startled in a way only she could, with a slight tilt to her head and a sideways flick of the tip of her wing. "The Mother is waiting for us. We still have to fight. But I don't want him to be alone. Will you watch over him for me?"

Giselle was silent for a very long time. Then she nodded. "I will protect him until your return, Alto. And you _will_ return."

Alto nodded firmly. Then he turned to the others, who had gathered in a loose semicircle behind him, their faces all in various stages of apprehension and concern. Within his chest he could feel Elcrest still watching, still considering, but there was something inside of him that sang of relief. Of renewed hope. Of triumph long since snatched away from him, an outcome he had thought lost forever, only for it to be rekindled right in front of his eyes. There were ramifications of an action like this that stretched further than any of them had time to consider right now. But if it could be done for Xeno, after all this time, then maybe...

Maybe.


	2. Aria

II - Aria

Eve squinted and shielded her face with her arm as they stepped out onto the surface of the moon. Her steps came slower and slower, and Alto found himself slowing to match her pace. Marie ran on ahead to catch up with the others, laughing, and Eve peered after her from beneath her arm, but still she moved as though in a daze, shadowing her eyes with her sleeve.

"Eve," Alto said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Eve hesitated. "It's so bright." She lowered her arm very slowly and looked up into the sky, blinking owlishly at the lights scattered all across the darkness above. "I've only ever left my room once. And I wasn't paying any attention then. The earth...it shines the way a qualia does. And all those pretty little lights are stars, aren't they?"

"Mmhmm." Alto smiled up at them. "You like them, huh?"

Eve looked at them in silence, her wide, red eyes reflecting a million tiny pinpricks of light. "Humans love them," she said. "I can feel that from you. You rely on them to find your way, and they fill you with hope. Is that why your qualia came from them?"

Alto shook his head. "I'm not actually sure," he said. "I think that's as good an idea as any. The stars have always been important to humanity, you're right. But, y'know...the moon has been, too."

"Really?" Eve looked doubtfully at him. "But...all your fear and hate when you looked at me..."

"That came later," Alto said. He looked up into the sky, letting his eyes follow the path Yggdrasil made from where they stood down to the surface of the earth. "Back when I used to hunt for Mithra village, I went out at night sometimes because it was so bright. Moonlight is almost as good as sunlight when you need to see."

"I'm...like the sun?" Eve turned her face upward again, looking past the earth to the small, gold-white disk that blazed beyond it. "Isn't the sun everything to you? It gives you light and warmth. I'm not like that at all."

Alto squeezed her shoulder very gently. "You never had a chance to be. But think of it this way. Dr. Veronica says the moon is the reason we have tides—you keep our oceans moving the way they're supposed to. You've guarded us from shooting stars big enough that they might hurt the life on our world. You give us light when the sun is gone. Even with all the pain you've caused, you're still very important to us."

Eve considered in silence for a very long time. Then she smiled and reached up to take Alto's hand. "I'm glad," she said. "I want to be important to all of you."

They continued across the strewn rubble, hand in hand. Marie sprinted back towards them and grabbed both of their hands, and Alto found himself laughing as well as the three of them stumbled along together. But then they caught up with the rest of the party, and his steps slowed, the upswell of happiness sinking back down into his stomach when he saw where they were gathered.

Giselle looked up at him, the corners of her eyes pulled taut. "My master will not wake."

"We've tried everything," Lisette said, rising from where she and Popo had both knelt. "I had Popo boosted my magic with hers, Ewan tried some of his most expensive treatments, Dr. Veronica used some of her high-tech injections—nothing has worked. As far as we can tell, his injuries are healed, but—"

"You won't be able to fix him," Eve said quietly.

All eyes turned towards her. Eve hesitated and shied back, squeezing Alto's hand tightly. Alto kept a tight hold on her hand, but he turned to face her and knelt so that the two of them were on eye level. "What do you mean, Eve?"

She looked away. "He...he was my toy. He was the only company I had for a thousand years. And the only way I knew how to love was to break things. So I broke him, so much that you can't fix him." She lifted her eyes to meet Alto's, and though her face was pale, her gaze was steady. "But I think I can."

She released Alto's hand and passed through the gathered crowd. Lisette and Popo scrambled out of her way. She spread her skirt and knelt beside Xeno, then reached out and rested both hands on his chest. "I felt it when you took his qualia away from me," she said, closing her eyes. "I hated you for it. But he's going to be happy now, isn't he?"

Alto crouched down beside her. "I hope so," he said quietly. "Eve...what _is_ he?"

Eve smiled dimly. "Right now he's a monster. Not really an angel, but not really human any more, either. If he goes too far away from me like this, he'll fall apart."

"But you _can_ fix it?" Ewan asked.

Reddish white light seeped from between Eve's fingers. It pooled like water and spread outward across Xeno's chest, enveloping him in a softly-glowing cocoon. "I can try," she said. "But he has to want to be fixed, too. If I broke him so much that he doesn't want to get better any more, it might not..." She paused, then smiled just a little. "But I don't think you have to worry about that, right, Conductor Alto?"

"I hope not," Alto said, reaching out to rest his hand beside Eve's. "His qualia felt like it was in pain. Why did you give it to him in the first place, if you knew he would find the Conductor again someday?"

Eve said nothing for a long moment. "I wanted my own witch," she finally said. "You and Elcrest took all the others away from me. I wanted a witch the Conductor couldn't steal because you had no idea he existed. If he had a qualia, I could keep control of him no matter where he went. And he could do barely any magic while he was tuned to me—not enough to make anyone suspicious. Only a little healing."

Rusty took a startled step back. "So _that's_ how! He always told us that the healing crap he did came from the orbs he used, but he'd never tell us how he got ahold of them!"

"It _was_ magic," Archibald said. "All this time..."

When Eve looked up at Alto, her eyes glowed the same red-white as the magic still flowing from her hands. "You said I could be like the sun, Alto. But I thought of someone better. Someone who's more important to you. Someone who was eclipsed by the moon for a long time."

Alto rocked back on his heels. Hilda lifted a hand to her mouth, and the other witches looked back and forth in confusion, until Mordimort finally reached up to tug at Hilda's sleeve.

"His qualia," she said. "I remember...it looked like...the sun..."

"It did," Hilda said in a very soft voice. "He's the Solar Witch."

"That's ridiculous!" Dante threw his arms into the air. "You can't just go around making up witches whenever you feel like it!"

"Of course she can," Veronica snapped. "She created every qualia except for the Celestial Qualia. She's the mother of all witches! You were in that spirit world, the same as the rest of us—you _saw_ it. Now take your pointless skepticism somewhere else and stop butting in on things you know nothing about!"

" _I_ think it's pretty lame, too," Dorothy muttered. Hilda gave her a look with raised eyebrows, and her voice descended into muttering as she shifted closer to Dante.

Keith shook his head. "You people have no sense of gravity," he said, watching the light ripple like droplets in a still pond. "The recently redeemed goddess of the moon is creating a miracle before our very eyes, and you want to argue about how _silly_ it is?"

Eve laughed. "It's okay," she said. "I think I like it. You're all so different...but you love each other. I want to be part of that. And I want him to be part of it again, too."

She withdrew her hands. The light began to fade, and Alto found himself barely able to breathe, as though someone had screwed iron bands around his chest. Giselle's eyes were focused intently on the face that lay beneath the failing light. When it finally faded enough to see, he felt more than saw Hilda's surprised twitch. Xeno's face had changed—not enough to be unrecognizable to those who knew him now, but far enough that he much more resembled the face he had worn in the past. His wings and the robotic layering of joints and armor panels were gone. His hair was dark brown now, shot through with blonde at one temple. His eyelids fluttered, then opened very slowly, and part of Alto had expected his eyes to be dark again as well, but no. Even clouded as they were, those were still as blue as the sky above Regnant had always been.

"Master!" Giselle's hands closed around his shoulders. "Can you hear me? Are you well?"

Xeno moaned softly. His eyes fell closed, then opened again just as slowly. "Giselle? Where...?"

Marie clapped her hands together. "You did it!" She flung her arms around Eve's shoulders and nearly bowled her over. "You really did it, Eve! He'll really be okay!"

Another moan escaped Xeno's throat. His palms scraped against the ground as he tried to push himself up. Alto and Giselle eased him upright, and Xeno lifted one hand, staring at the chalky, grey-white dust that coated his palm. He looked at Alto, then at Eve, with a blankness about his eyes as though he wasn't actually seeing them. "Mother?"

Eve extricated herself from Marie and pressed both hands against Xeno's cheeks. "It's time for us all to go away now," she said. "I can't be your mother any more. So you have to promise to be good, okay?"

Xeno closed his eyes. Pain flickered across his face, and he opened them again, one hand searching out until it closed in the hem of Alto's coat. "Elcrest..."

"You're tired, old friend." Alto backed away and allowed Elcrest to untangle Xeno's fingers from his coat. "Go back to sleep. I'll see you again when we make it home." He rested Xeno's hand across his chest. Xeno laughed just a little, a small, shaky laugh, and then he closed his eyes once more and went still with slumber.

Alto let out a short, sharp breath. He scrubbed at his eyes with his sleeve and stood, locking his jaw. "Giselle, will you be able to carry him all the way home from here?"

"My body was designed to undergo great stress," Giselle said. "I can carry much greater weights for even longer periods of time. It will be very simple."

"Good. Whatever you do, don't let go of him." Alto turned to the rest of the Tuning Knights, his eyes flashing. "We've spent more than enough time here. I'm ready to go home."

"Yeah!" Marie dragged Eve up to her feet and spun her around in a circle. "Let's go home!"

Her cheer was caught up by the rest of the party. The lot of them made their way towards the tree as fast as their legs could carry them, helping each other pass rubble and treacherous gaps. And then they reached the topmost branches of Yggdrasil and the entire moon began to shake, and even before they knew what was happening, even before a word was spoken, the flaring light in Eve's eyes told him exactly what she was about to do.

She had given them back so much already. Alto watched Giselle flit along the path with Xeno cradled in her arms and listened to the ripples of song chasing their way down after them. There wasn't time to go back for her, but this was exactly what she had wanted. She'd given them a chance to escape, she'd given them a way to stop the destruction once and for all, and she'd given them back Xeno. It would have to be enough.


	3. Interlude

III - Interlude

Someone was humming.

Alto sat up very slowly and groaned. His neck ached from the way he'd leaned his head back against the headboard of his chair. He stretched, listening to every protest and angry creak his body threw at him, and looked around the infirmary. All the lamps here were out. The sky outside the windows was beginning to lighten with false dawn. And beside one of the beds stood a pale white form, just barely visible in the dimness.

Alto tilted his head. The humming came from her direction. It was less a melody, more a slow run of synthesized sound, but in its own way it was strangely beautiful. It wasn't until she fell silent again that Alto rose to his feet and stood beside her.

"I didn't know you could sing."

"I cannot," Giselle said. "I am not a witch."

"Then what were you just doing?"

Giselle hesitated. The tip of her wing flicked, and she looked down at the figure tucked in beneath the blankets, silent. In the days since their return from the moon, Xeno had awoken once, maybe twice, and had perhaps a moment or two of lucidity before dropping back into delirium and sleep. Lisette was a constant presence here, checking in on him and ensuring he hadn't developed a fever—and the other constant was Giselle, slipping in to watch the proceedings with wide, still eyes, and disappearing before she could get in anyone's way.

"I was attempting to mimic the sound of a song," she eventually said. "I do not know that I succeeded."

"It sounded pretty good," Alto said with a smile. "For someone who's never sung before, anyway. Are you sure you don't have a qualia, too?"

"I do not," Giselle said firmly. "I was built here on Earth by my master. He could not have found a qualia to install within me, which means—"

"It was just a joke," Alto laughed, nudging her arm with his elbow. "I know you don't have a qualia. But angels are children of the moon, right? We've heard them sing in battles all the time. You might have been built here, but you're made from the same parts they are. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to sing, too, if you practice."

"Practice?" She sounded dubious.

Alto nodded. "Yep. When you do something over and over again to make yourself better at it. Like how you've been practicing to identify emotions. The more you do it, the better you get. That's practice."

Lights flickered behind Giselle's eyes, the way they did when she was filing away something new. "I have been practicing that," she said slowly. "I am certain that the emotion I feel right now is envy. The witches have beautiful voices. I wondered if my voice could be beautiful as well."

A softer smile worked its way across Alto's face. "Maybe you should talk to Hilda or Sakuya, or even Medea. They have plenty of experience with vocal practice. I'm sure they'll be happy to teach you how to sing. When they're done with you, you'll have an even more beautiful voice than you already do."

The very end of Giselle's tail twitched. She looked down at Xeno, and there were the lights behind her eyes again. Connections firing, ideas forming. Alto said nothing until the lights grew still again—she wouldn't reply to anything he said until she was sure about her own thoughts.

"My master will be able to sing as well, correct?"

"He _is_ a witch," Alto said. "Once he's healed, yeah, he should be able to."

Giselle folded her hands carefully in front of her. "That is good. I would like to be able to sing with him."

Alto chuckled. Giselle's brows knitted, and Alto waved a hand at her. "I'm sorry, it's not really funny, I just— You really care about him, don't you?"

Giselle nodded, but now her wing was beginning to droop. "Is that strange?"

"I don't think so," Alto said. "You two were together for a long time, right?"

"No," Giselle said, "not very long at all. Not even a full human lifetime."

"Well, it must have felt long to you. It was your entire life."

Giselle's brows knitted again as she considered that. "My data tells me that seventeen years is a very short time to be alive compared to the average lifespan of most humans. But...you are correct. It did feel much longer." Her tail twitched and curled in the other direction. "He is my creator. Lisette is also fond of her creator, is she not?"

"Of course she is," Alto said. He put a hand on Giselle's arm and squeezed it gently. "I didn't mean to sound like I was making fun of you. In all the ways that really matter, he's your father. He's family."

Xeno stirred. Giselle's attention snapped away from Alto. She drifted closer to the bed as Xeno's eyes slitted open. In the slowly-blooming dawn light that crept in through the window, Alto caught narrow flashes of blue. "Where...?"

"You are safe." Giselle rested one palm gently across Xeno's forehead. "You are in the infirmary of the royal castle of Lambert. No harm will come to you here."

Xeno let out a breath like a deflating bellows. His eyes fell closed again. "Lambert... Well. I'll be safe until they execute me for treason." He laughed, but it was a weak, raspy thing, edged all around with bitterness.

"They won't do that," Alto said, and his voice was more steady than even he had expected it to be. "I won't let them."

Xeno tensed, his eyes flicking open again. He stared at Alto as though he were seeing a stranger. "What do you mean, you won't _let_ them? Do you really think you'll be able to convince them otherwise?"

"I've done it already, and I'll do it again for your sake, too." Alto looked out the window. The sky was painting itself across with color, a slow layering of orange and yellow and peach and pink, and there was that gathering anticipation he always felt as the sun pushed closer and closer to breaking the horizon. "Eve is going to spend the rest of her existence singing to protect us from Cartesia. Dante is going to dedicate himself to hunting down every last angel left here. Hilda and Dorothy are going to rebuild Hildegaria, under strict supervision by Regnant. They've all done horrible things, but they're going to work to make things better for those of us who are left. So what are _you_ going to do, Klaus?"

Silence.

Alto breathed in very slowly and exhaled. "You don't have to decide now," he said in a lower voice. "You're still recovering. It's... It has to be a lot to take in right now. But you can't just give up before you've even started."

Giselle drew her hand away from Xeno's forehead. "You will not be alone. If anyone tries to harm you, they will have to go through me."

Xeno let his head fall back against the pillow. His eyes went dim, and for a moment Alto wondered if he was falling asleep again. Then he pushed the blankets off of him and swung his legs out over the edge of the bed. He tried to push himself up and wavered a little as his strength started to fail. Giselle took one of his arms and Alto took the other, and together they eased him to his feet. He tested his steps one at a time and, with their assistance, made his way slowly to the window. He put both hands on the sill and leaned against it, staring out at the brightening sky, and Alto suddenly wasn't sure when he'd started holding his breath.

"I don't want anyone to have to take responsibility for me," Xeno finally said. "Especially not you. People are going to question why you let me live, after everything I've done."

"They questioned why I let the Harbingers live, too." Alto glanced at Giselle. "And they asked the same questions when I brought in an angel who tried to kill us. But things do change."

Giselle nodded. "There is still trouble sometimes. There are those who believe we deserve nothing. However, as time passes and we work to undo the things we have done, more are willing to speak for us. As long as we do not grow complacent, I believe even we can eventually have peace."

"Peace," Xeno repeated in a very soft voice. "You really believe that?"

Far away over the rooftops of Lambert, the sun finally crested the horizon. It cast shafts of light up through the clouds, bathing everything in a wash of orange and gold. That light seemed to soften Giselle's face and Xeno's as well, and Alto couldn't help but remember the orange light of the qualia within him, the way it too had brightened everything it touched and smoothed away the sharp corners.

"If you can't believe in that right now, then at least believe in us." Alto put his hand very carefully on Xeno's arm. "We've all seen what you suffered. None of us are going to let you go through that again."

Xeno breathed very slowly. "Alright," he said. "I suppose I have to trust you." There was a distance in his voice, but he did finally smile, just a faint quirk at the corners of his lips. The sunlight glinted hard, bright gold in his blue eyes and left softer highlights in his darkened hair. Things were going to be different this time around, Alto felt the voice inside of him saying, with a certainty that didn't even surprise him—especially not when he felt it ringing with Elcrest's determination. Things were going to be different. And no one was going to take what little peace Xeno had left from him again.


	4. Cavatina

IV - Cavatina

No matter what business Archibald insisted the Knight Grand Master take care of or what crazy scheme Rusty had planned, no matter what ridiculous shenanigans the other members of the reinstated Regnant Knights managed to get themselves into, none of them dared to cause a ruckus in the castle library. Not with Regnant Elmar's study attached to it. And definitely not with his carefully chosen army of librarians ready to breathe fire at anyone whose voice crept even a hair above an acceptable murmur. So Alto slipped through the heavy double doors and breathed out a long sigh of relief as he eased them shut behind him.

Compared to the organized chaos of the rest of the palace, this place felt dead silent. Alto passed a few pockets of quiet conversation, but those only seemed to heighten the general air of soundless calm. Even his own footsteps had a muffled, deadened sound. He ran one hand along the shelves as he walked, not even entirely sure what he was searching for, simply losing himself in the dim haze that seemed to settle over the vast, sunlit space like a blanket.

"I see you've discovered the benefits of this place."

Alto very nearly jumped out of his own skin. He spun, one hand darting for his sword. Only a moment later he recognized the warm amusement in that voice, and it took an effort of will to force himself not to draw his blade any more than the quarter-inch he had already loosed it from its scabbard.

From his place in one of the low sofas, Xeno arched an eyebrow. He'd settled himself just beneath one of the tall windows that lit the library with golden afternoon sunlight. The table near his elbow was piled with books. He had one open in his lap, as though he had only just looked up from reading it. It had been a little more than two months since their return from the moon, and while Alto was glad to see him finally up and about instead of wasting away in an infirmary bed, he did sort of wish the encounter had come a bit more in his own favor.

"Apparently you're in need of those benefits today," Xeno said, eyeing Alto's sword hand. "A little stressed, I take it?"

"Uh...maybe." Alto smiled ruefully. He cracked his hand off the hilt of his sword and sighed, stretching his arms high above his head. "I think I'm starting to get why you only slept for ten minutes a day."

Xeno chuckled. "It must be hard on you. You always did enjoy sleeping in when you had better things to do."

"Hey!"'

A passing librarian shot Alto a withering look. He ducked his head and covered his mouth with one hand, and Xeno's smile quirked a little wider. Alto gave Xeno an equally sharp look, but that only seemed to amuse him more. He sighed finally and sat in the couch beside the one Xeno had tucked himself into. "Fine. Yeah. I'm a little tired and a little stressed, and I have no idea how you managed to do this job without falling on your face."

"Very carefully." Xeno laughed at the disgruntled expression on Alto's face. "Really, though. It helped to have a place to escape to when I needed to rest. As you may have noticed, it's a pretty effective strategy."

"Yeah," Alto said, "I kinda figured that out the first time Archibald got glared right out the door. I get the feeling he isn't a regular fixture here. And the librarians are all either too old or too strict for Rusty's taste, so he wouldn't have any reason to stick around, either."

"You really have been paying attention." Xeno's voice was warm. "Yes. I had this library built for that exact reason. It wasn't nearly as grand then, but it was a quiet place where we could escape from our responsibilities for a little while. I'm glad to see it's grown so much—there are more stories now than there were in our day. Or at least, more time to write them down."

Alto rested his chin in one hand. Xeno's eyes had gone dim. With the way the sun filtered in through the window above them, strange shadows fell across his face like ornately-wrought prison bars. He was still looking at Alto, but it was with a distant gaze, as though seeing through him into something else. Alto had seen this gaze before. Even while he was still pretending to be Klaus, Alto had seen that look, as though Xeno was peeling back layers of the present world in order to see something else entirely.

Xeno shook his head and the moment was gone. "Here," he said, running one finger down the stack. "Where is... Aha!" He pulled one book out, one with a dark red cover, and passed it to Alto. "You'll enjoy this one."

Alto flipped the book open to the title page and wrinkled his nose. " _The Wheel of the Sun and Moon_...Sakuya has this book. It's some kind of weird political drama set in ancient Amatsu, right? She says it's good, but it's not really my thing."

Xeno's brows knitted together. "I thought you enjoyed stories about court intrigue."

"Nah, not me." Alto set the book aside. "I prefer chivalric stories full of adventure and magic." He paused, then laughed. "Maybe that's why I was so ready to join the 9th. It was just like something out of one of the stories Lisette used to tell."

His eyes fell on Xeno again, and he paused. Xeno was still looking at him with deep confusion. And then there was a flicker of pain, a run of emotions so fast Alto couldn't keep up with them, and his expression locked itself down again into smooth calm. "Of course," he said, returning the book to the pile. "I shouldn't have assumed. My apologies."

There was something off in his voice. Something that hummed just faintly out of tune with the rest of his demeanor. Alto's eyes sharpened, but Xeno didn't look at him. Instead he kept his gaze fixed on the book he'd been reading. "Please don't look at me like that," he said after a moment—and there they were. Vines made of purple and black shadows that seemed to appear from nowhere, writhing in from the edges of Alto's vision to lace themselves around Xeno and dig their dark thorns into his skin.

"Why not?"

He could feel more than see Xeno beginning to curl away from him. "I'm asking you not to push me on this."

"Klaus," Alto said, more sternly, and Xeno winced.

"Just stop." Xeno covered his face with one hand. "Stop staring at me with those eyes. It was a simple mistake. There's nothing more to it than that."

Alto let out a long breath. "I can't," he said. Xeno looked up at him again in surprise, and then away very quickly, and the shadows around him pulsed just a little darker. "I can't just stop if you're going to be like this. So I'm going to need you to talk to Medea for me."

"Medea?" Xeno's face paled. "You can't mean—!"

"You can't keep secrets from me any more." Alto's voice was grim. "Something's bothering you enough to put chains around your heart. If you can't bring yourself to tell me what it is, then this is the way we have to do it."

Xeno stared down at his book for a long, silent moment. Then he rose to his feet with a stiff movement and dropped his book on the pile. "I'll ask the librarians to hold these for me. I get the feeling we'll be occupied for a while" He all but stalked away, taking his darkness with him, and Alto let out another sigh, rubbing at his eyes. So much for getting some rest today.

* * *

Alto stepped into the room Medea called the Garden with trepidation humming in every atom of his body. He'd given them roughly an hour to prepare—turning a new witch loose on Medea tended to require at least that much just to find appropriate clothing. And then he had stalled out along the walkway, watching various insects go about their work along the flowering path. But finally he made his way into the hall proper where Medea and Xeno were waiting for him.

A smile bloomed across Medea's face when Alto entered. "Alto! You really must talk Klaus into singing for you. He has quite a lovely voice."

Xeno's eyes narrowed just a little. He was seated on one of the low sofas with his legs crossed beneath him. He wore a vest with a low neck and no sleeves, coupled with long white trousers, and Alto had to force himself not to smile at how uncomfortable he looked with the entire situation.

"I think that can wait," he said. "Come on, Klaus. We have work to do."

Xeno said nothing as he stood. He brushed past Medea with a terse nod, and together they stepped through the second door and entered the Soul Prison. Xeno's steps slowed just a little as he looked around, the cool blue light washing his face even paler than before. But he kept moving until they both reached the center of the room, and then he turned to face Alto, his eyes unreadable.

"I really think you're overreacting," he said quietly. "I appreciate your concern, but I don't think all of this is necessary."

"It is, though." Alto's voice was just as low. "You're hiding something from me. I upset you somehow, didn't I?"

Xeno shook his head. "It's something I have to handle myself," he said. The chains came whipping in from the edges of Alto's vision once more as he folded his arms in close against his chest. "You're the last person I should be bothering with it."

Something sparked up white. Xeno blinked down at his own chest, his eyes wide as the light at his collarbone glowed brighter and brighter with each passing second. "What is—?"

"That's your qualia," Alto said. "It knows you aren't being true to your own heart. And I need to hear what it has to say."

Xeno's jaw locked. But he breathed out and closed his eyes, and the light overtook them both.

* * *

From where he stood, Alto could hear the sounds of fighting.

He took a moment to orient himself. There was the backdrop he remembered, sun and moon chasing each other across a backdrop of stars. The orange sunburst that was Xeno's qualia hung suspended overhead in the center of a grand mandala. And a few platforms away stood a group of shadowy figures, all in the motions of battle. Alto watched them flit back and forth for just a second, and then the one in the center lifted its glaive and carved through the rest, making them dissipate into shadow and mist.

The figure turned, spotted Alto, and froze. Even with the way it was overshadowed, Alto could see it had dark hair and eyes, and though it wore less armor than Klaus usually did, its clothing was more ornate, all reds and blacks and golds.

"Elcrest? Is it really you?"

Alto felt a tremor from deep within him. He took a few steps forward, right up to the edge of his own platform. "Klaus—"

"Why do you call me by that name?" His hand tightened around the haft of his glaive. "You know who I am! You remember me, don't you?! It's me! Xeno!"

Alto felt a chill run through him. Xeno's hands were locked so tight they shook, and even darkened by shadow, his eyes were like chips of stone. "You've been waiting for Elcrest this entire time," he said in a softer voice. "Haven't you?"

Xeno lifted his head. Anger lined his hardened face, and he turned away as more shadows began to ripple across the surface of his platform. "I don't know why you're acting this way," he said coldly. "If you just want to play tricks, then fine. I'll handle this myself." The shadows coalesced into dark angels, and with a fierce battle cry, Xeno charged towards them, his glaive held high.

Alto sprinted for one of the orange-and-black platforms. There were angels where he was headed, as well, and he found himself cursing under his breath as he charged through them. He needed to reach Xeno. The man fought like a demon, but for every shadow angel he slew, another appeared in its place, and eventually his strength would run out. The pressure in Alto's stomach made him break into a run, made him growl as the second moving platform took what felt like forever, and then he was charging in, his blade felling angels left and right as he fought his way towards Xeno's shadow.

The pressure rose from his stomach into his chest. Alto felt a tang in the back of his throat like metal and starlight. He closed his eyes for just a moment, then opened them again, and the cry that left his throat wasn't his own. He unleashed one long, arcing sweep of his blade that finished off three angels at once, and then only the two of them were left, gasping for breath.

Xeno turned on him, lifting his glaive again. "What are you still doing here?! Get out of the way, or I'll—"

"Xeno," Elcrest said. "That's enough."

Xeno went very still. His eyes grew wide, and he stepped forward, the point of his glaive lowering so far that it very nearly scraped the floor. "It _is_ you," he said. "I knew it was you!"

Elcrest shook his head very slowly. Xeno paused mid-step, confusion falling over his eyes. "It isn't me," Elcrest said. "Not really. Not any more."

"What... What do you mean?" The corners of Xeno's eyes went taut with pain. "You're right here! I knew you wouldn't abandon me, and here you are, just like I knew you'd be!"

"I'm _not,"_ Elcrest said, and the stern snap of his voice made Xeno wince. "I never came back for you, Xeno. I wasn't strong enough. I died, and because of that, you had to suffer for a thousand years. I'm not the one you should be waiting for any more."

Xeno faltered. "But..."

Elcrest reached up and put both hands on Xeno's shoulders. "Listen to me," he said. "I gave Alto my power because he had the strength to do what I could not. I am still here, in a way, but not the way you want me to be. My time is done. Do you understand?"

A soft, wordless sound worked its way out of Xeno's throat. He collapsed to his knees, and Elcrest knelt down with him, hands still on his shoulders. "What am I supposed to do?" Xeno's voice was thick with grief. "You were the last thing I had. You were the only thing I could believe in. Even when everything else was darkness, I knew at least I'd be able to see you again, even if it was just for you to kill me and end it all. If you're gone, what do I have left?"

"You have a future," Elcrest said, pressing his forehead against Xeno's. "You have an entire world free from the pain we both suffered. You have people who once thought of you as their friend, and may again if you persevere. And you have a Conductor who fought monsters, the moon, and even me for the chance to save your life. You have so much, Xeno. Don't squander it all on the past."

Xeno shuddered. He lowered his head, but when he spoke again, his voice was a little more steady. "I'll try," he said. "I'm sorry, Elcrest. For everything."

"Goodbye, Xeno," Elcrest said gently, and the world went white around them.

* * *

Xeno lifted one hand to his face and almost stumbled. Alto reached out to steady him, and they both stood still for a moment while Xeno caught his balance. There was an odd rasp to each breath he drew, a rattle somewhere deep in his chest, and Alto said nothing until he had it back under control.

"Are you alright, Klaus?" he finally said.

Slowly, Xeno lowered his hand away from his face. "Elcrest was the one who loved to read political dramas." His voice was remarkably even compared to the way he had been shaking just a few moments ago. "They were his favorite kind of story. I keep forgetting he's..." He fell silent, the muscles in his throat working. "You're not the same person. I knew that from the first moment you laid eyes on me and had no idea who I was. And it wasn't as hard at the beginning. But now you have his eyes, and sometimes you sound just like him, and I know this shouldn't be so hard for me. Hilda certainly didn't have this much trouble."

"Hilda knew what had happened to Elcrest," Alto said. "She knew what to expect, and she and I have had time to talk about it. You only knew what Eve let you remember."

"Still." Xeno pulled his weight away from Alto and steadied himself. "This...has caused you too much trouble already. And you're right. I do need to work on putting the past behind me."

"Not alone," Alto said. Xeno blinked at him, and he shook his head. "This isn't something you have to work on just by yourself. Talk to Hilda about it. Talk to _me_ about it. I know you cared about Elcrest, and I know it's going to be hard to accept that he's gone, but that doesn't mean you have to be alone."

Xeno said nothing for a long time. Then a very slow smile worked its way across his face. "Alright," he said. "The next time I find myself troubled, I'll remember to come directly to my superior with my concerns, Grand Master Alto."

Alto felt his cheeks go hot. "Don't start that," he groaned. "You were the superior officer not that long ago."

"Exactly," Xeno said with relish. "Now I get to relax a little and see how you handle it. You have an interesting methodology so far."

"I said cut it out!"

"Is that an order, Commander?"

" _Ugh."_

* * *

 _As a thank you to all of you who have read thus far and also because I felt like it, I decided to throw together a sprite edit of Xeno in his tuning outfit. You can find it at the tinyurl_ **mmeey6w** _. Thank you for your support!_


	5. Recitative

V - Recitative

The road to Hildegaria was a long one, and with every step they traveled, the air grew cooler and cooler. Even now, creeping closer to summer as they were, the occasional breeze that caught them made Alto shiver through his thicker coat. How had the Harbingers survived in a place that was this cold except for in the depths of summer?

"You're sure you're not getting cold?"

"I'm fine, Xeno. Thank you."

Alto repressed a smile. Hilda and Dorothy had come to Regnant on a diplomatic visit, but Dorothy had grown quickly bored and headed back north herself. While Hilda had more than enough strength to make the trip with as little trouble, Alto had thought it best to send at least a token accompaniment, and with the rest of the 9th either busy or scattered to the winds, the escort fell to Alto himself and his only subordinate who currently had more time than he knew what to do with.

As they traveled, Alto found himself getting ahead of the two of them. They hung back together and talked often. It was a strange trick of the way the Celestial Qualia worked that even if a witch stood at a distance from him, if he listened, he could hear their voice as clearly as if they were standing beside him. So he continued his trek up the road ahead, but he kept his ears closely attuned to the conversation behind him.

"You're looking a little cold, yourself." Hilda had a smile in her voice. "You're accustomed to being a little more covered, aren't you?"

Alto could almost feel Xeno's spine stiffen and repressed a snigger. Xeno had taken to wearing far less of his heavy plate these days. He still wore gauntlets, but instead of the fully metal vambraces and greaves, now they were mostly leather with metal cups to protect his knees and elbows. He'd traded his ornate torso armor for a much simpler breastplate and pauldron array. His tunic had no high collar or cravat, and in fact the neckline sat only just low enough to keep the metal edge of the breastplate from clipping the skin of his chest.

"You're teasing me." The tension unwound from his voice. "You used to be so timid you would barely even look at me."

"Things have changed."

"I've noticed."

Silence fell over them. It lasted for several minutes, long enough that Alto began to consider falling back to join them. But then he heard Xeno let out a very long breath, the kind that meant he'd been thinking too hard for his own good.

"Hilda...am I doing enough?"

Alto could just see the way Hilda's golden eyes narrowed and sharpened. "What more do you think you should be doing?"

"I'm not sure." Xeno's voice grew heavier by the second. "Rejoining the Knights doesn't feel like enough, but I don't know what else I _can_ do. I've been so frail these last few months, it's been all I could do just to get out of my room."

"Your body was weakened by what the Mother did to you," Hilda said in a more gentle voice. "No one expects you to recover all at once, Xeno.

Alto could sense Xeno shaking his head. "Part of me knows that, but...it's frustrating. The simplest training routines exhaust me. I can't even wear my own armor without overheating—I have to wear this instead." Alto heard the faint tap of his finger against a leather vambrace. "How am I supposed to atone when I still have trouble convincing my own body to work the way it should?"

"By not giving in." Hilda's voice was firm, and Alto repressed a smile. "Your body wasn't your own for a very long time. If this is the fight you have to face right now, then face it, and when you're strong in yourself again, then you can worry about the rest of the world."

"Always so wise," Xeno said, and there was that little uplift in his voice. "Have you ever considered becoming a queen?"

" _Now_ who's teasing?"

Xeno laughed. It was a warm sound, one Alto realized he hadn't heard in a long time. He hung back enough to let the two of them catch up, and gave the two of them a curious look when they kept trading secretive smiles. "What's so funny?"

"Xeno has decided his path to atonement is to torment me," Hilda said primly.

Xeno laughed again. "Hardly. I was only pointing out the obvious. You see..."

His voice trailed off. Hilda's eyes flashed, and the upward, smiling tilt to the corners of her eyes disappeared. Alto felt it in the next second, an onrushing wave of pressure that hit his chest like a battering ram. And then something in the underbrush sang out a fierce, discordant jangle, and a rush of angels flooded out to meet them.

Chaos reigned. For the next few seconds, Alto felt nothing but his blade. Any time one of them managed to land a blow on him, he caught it across the chest with a deadly counterstrike. The tides of battle carried him around and through the onrushing wave of writhing figures, scoring as many blows to weaker backs and sides as he could without leaving himself completely open. Somewhere nearby, Hilda's magic fired off in rapid bursts of purple light, and angels cried out in ear-jarring agony as they evaporated. Klaus' glaive was a deadly whirlwind of steel—but in the glimpses Alto caught of him through the fighting, he could see how ragged his breaths were growing already, how pale his face had gone and how tightly he clenched the shaft of his glaive to keep it in his hands.

The Song Stone glowed. Alto glanced down at it for half a second, then up at Hilda. The fight had carried the two of them close together nearer to the edges of the battleground, but that was perfect, if he could just—

Hilda met his eyes for one long second. Then she threw one hand out towards Xeno. Purple-black light flared up around both of them, and when it faded, Hilda stood in the center of the battlefield. Xeno inhaled sharply and whirled, already searching for the next angel to strike, and in a sudden flash, Alto knew what it was Hilda wanted him to do.

He surged forward and caught the haft of Xeno' glaive in one hand. Xeno's entire arm went tense. Alto maneuvered a quick hook step around him and used that tension to pull him off-balance, dropping him backwards into a low dip with the glaive also resting in the crook of his arm.

"Xeno," he said quietly as the Song Stone materialized in his hand.

Xeno's eyes went wide. At his throat the sunburst appeared, rippling with orange light, and he almost struggled free. But Alto already had the tip of the dagger pressed against his qualia, and he let out a surprised gasp, his head dropping back as it slid home.

 _Within his own spirit world, Xeno lifted his glaive. It was almost a dance, the way he spun it around him, working through a complicated form Alto had only seen him use once. Music rang around him, and on each downbeat his blade snapped outward, a strike that would have been devastating to anything that dared to stand in its way. He spun it one more time and leapt high into the air, bringing the blade straight down and slamming it into the checkered floor. The blade threw sparks into the air, sparks that grew brighter and brighter, and his qualia glowed in response, until his entire world went orange-yellow-white around him._

Fiercely bright orange light burst from Xeno's body. Alto stumbled back from him at the intensity of it. The angels shrieked, a chorus of clashing voices, and made as if to flee, but several of them crashed into trees and into each other. Their voices grew louder and more plaintive with every passing second, but none of them could drown out the sound of Xeno's voice, ringing around them in a smooth, even baritone.

"They're blinded!" Hilda brought up her scythe and carved a great swath through the angels that still had her surrounded. "Now, Alto!"

"Right!"

Alto charged in to join her. The angels milled about in confusion, drawn to the sounds of their battle but unable to effectively strike back. Another pulse of light rippled from Xeno as he came around to his chorus, and suddenly every blow Alto landed seemed to bring strength back into his limbs. He felt the blows he'd suffered already closing, and where his limbs had grown heavy from using so may of his stronger attacks, he could feel that energy returning to him, more and more with every successful stroke.

Hilda lifted one hand. The straggling remnants of the angelic force disappeared into a haze of purple. And then there was nothing but the sound of Xeno's voice and the orange light that slowly faded away as his song wrapped itself inward to a close.

Xeno dropped to one knee. Alto rushed to his side, catching his shoulders to steady him, and Hilda followed, her lips pressed tightly together. "Xeno?" she said, lowering herself and pushing her billowing white skirt aside as though to kneel as well.

Xeno waved a hand at her. "No," he said, but his voice was weak. "I'm fine. I..." He hesitated, leaning heavily into Alto's grip. "That was..."

"Medea was right," Alto said. "You have a wonderful voice."

Xeno managed a pale chuckle. "I didn't realize singing took so much out of you. I think... I think I need to rest for a moment."

Alto traded looks with Hilda. Singing _shouldn't_ take so much out of him. It hadn't been so exhausting for Lisette the very first time she'd sung. But Alto had already overheard what he wasn't supposed to—that Xeno was still weak, weaker than he wanted to let on.

He helped Xeno to his feet. "It is getting towards evening," he said. "Even if we set up camp early, we'll still make it to Farenheit by this time tomorrow, right?"

Hilda nodded. "And while we rest, I would like to teach you a few things. There are training exercises for your voice just the way there are for your spear. I think it would do you good to implement some."

"Back to basics once again, is it?" Xeno smiled a little, but it was the dim, faint smile that Alto was really beginning to dislike. "A training regiment standard. Alright. Let's find a place to set up camp."

It only took a few minutes for Xeno to regain enough strength to walk on his own. He and Hilda fell behind again, but this time Alto closed his ears against them, focusing instead on finding a clearing for them to set up camp. His stomach churned at the memory of how pale and drawn Xeno's face had been even during the fight, let alone when he finished singing. Alto had known he was weaker now, but this... He would have to be more careful. More aware of how Xeno was holding up. That was all.

* * *

 _Xeno's first conduct can be found at tinyurl_ **k7emo8w** _. Have fun, you crazy kids._


	6. Cabaletta

VI - Cabaletta

"Hey! Hey, Alto! Look what I found!"

Alto repressed the urge to groan. Any time Rusty sounded that gleeful, trouble was sure to follow. He sheathed his sword and busied himself for a moment, righting the practice dummy he had nearly knocked off its frame. Gathered himself for whatever new, ridiculous thing Rusty had decided to get himself up to. Then he turned, and jumped back a pace when he found Xeno's spear pointed right at his nose.

" _Rusty!"_ he yelped. "That's not funny!"

Rusty cackled. "Sure it is! You should've seen your face!" He pulled it back and planted the butt in the ground, leaning heavily on it. "You're supposed to be the Grand Master now. You've gotta up your game. What if I'd been trying to kill you? You'd have been dead before you knew it."

Alto rolled his eyes. "You messing with me doesn't count as a sneak attack."

"Sure it does," Rusty said in a haughty voice. _"I_ have the god-slaying spear. What do you have? A fancy wand-sword thing? Not gonna cut it, there, bud."

Alto leveled him a spectacularly unimpressed look. "Where did you even get that?" he said. "Klaus is going to be pretty mad when he figures out it's missing. I'd like to see _that_ sneak attack."

"Well, maybe if he didn't want people messing with it, he shouldn't just leave it in the practice racks for anyone to grab." Rusty straightened and puffed his chest out. "'I'm Commander Klaus! I'm very important, and you shouldn't touch anything I own, or I'll smear you across the training grounds!"

"He sounds nothing like that."

"Oh, you're right. My bad. He sounds more like this." Rusty shifted his posture just a little and hunched his shoulders. "I'm Xeno, and I'm not allowed to have fun because I'm too busy alphabetizing and cross-indexing my past sins. And also because I'm too tired from smearing my own face across the training grounds."

Heat shot up the back of Alto's neck. He lunged forward and grabbed the spear with one hand. "Cut it out!"

Rusty yanked it free and backed up a few paces. "Hey, I'm just calling it like I see it! I mean, have you seen the guy recently? Notice anything weird about how beat to shit he always looks?"

"Okay, so he's tired a lot," Alto said. "So what? You'd be tired too if you were getting over being that sick!"

"Uh, no." Rusty hefted the spear and rested it across his shoulders. "I mean, yeah, I probably would be, but you've got it backwards. It's not a _slow recovery_ that's messing him up. If he's recovering slowly, it's because he's been out here grinding his face nonstop into a wall for the past three months."

The heat flooded out of him, and Alto felt his stomach threaten to sink right through the flagstones along with it. "He... What?"

"Mmhmm." Rusty let his wrists hang over the haft of the spear. "You remember him always telling us not to beat ourselves into the ground during training, because you don't actually learn anything, you just screw yourself up? Yeah, you should see him out here every day. The guy can barely keep his feet once he's done eviscerating every practice dummy he can get his hands on."

"That's rather a long word for you," came a voice from one of the archways that opened out onto the practice grounds. "Have you been studying, Rusty?"

Alto and Rusty both tensed. Rusty's smile went jagged and razor-sharp, and he turned with exaggerated casualness towards the man stalking in their direction. "Nah," he said, "I just listened to you while you were trying to kill us. It was real enlightening on the 'violent vocabulary' subject."

"That's _enough,_ Rusty!"

This time Alto's voice was sharp enough with command that Rusty actually startled. His lip curled, and then he heaved a sigh and unshouldered the spear. "Here," he said, tossing it flat to Klaus. "Try to actually put it back in the armory this time, a'ight? When you were the commander, you'd have chewed our asses out to Amatsu and back for leaving a real weapon rotting in the practice racks." He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and gave both of them one last withering look, and then slouched away, grumbling under his breath.

Xeno righted his spear and eyed Rusty until he disappeared through the archways. Alto was tempted to make sure he actually left, but instead he found himself looking Xeno over. His face still held a pale cast to it, and there were shadows under his eyes that should have gone away a long time ago. Alto knew he had been training hard to regain his strength—he'd heard as much from Xeno's own mouth. But what was he doing, so blatantly disregarding his own advice?

"He does have a point, I guess," Xeno said. He cast a rueful smile at Alto, his posture relaxing just a little. "I was wondering where I had left it. That isn't much like me, is it?"

"No," Alto said. "It's not. Klaus, what have you been doing out here?"

"Working." Xeno was still smiling, but Alto could almost feel the warmth drain out of his eyes. "I've been focusing mostly on rebuilding my endurance. The longer I can stay standing, the better."

Alto's hands clenched into fists. "How have you been working up to it, though? What kinds of breaks are you taking in between? How many routines are you doing, and in how many increments before you take a break? Or are you just forcing yourself to try to work at the level you were before, without bothering to build yourself up again?"

"A slow build is all well and good when you have time for it, but I don't have that luxury." Xeno's voice was beginning to frost over now, and it sent a spike of anger through Alto's gut. "I might be your subordinate now, but I'm not a rookie knight who needs to be taught how to hold a weapon. I need to be back up to strength as soon as possible."

"But that isn't right at all!" Alto threw his hands up. "You're the one who always told us that if we get hurt and don't build ourselves back up slowly, we can mess ourselves up even worse! Rusty's right. Something _is_ wrong with you."

Xeno turned fully towards him now, his lips and the corners of his eyes pulled taut. His grip tightened on the haft of his spear, and Alto could see the shadows coming down over him, lacing around him in knots and digging black thorns into every part of him. "Rusty has no idea what he's talking about," Xeno said, but Alto had already closed his eyes and backed up a step, shaking his head.

"Rusty pays way more attention than people give him credit for. You should know that better than anyone." Alto folded his arms and leveled as steady a stare as he could muster at Xeno. "Go put that away, okay? I need to see you at Medea's."

Xeno's shoulders went stiff. "But—"

" _Please_ don't make me order you."

Xeno stared at him for a very long time with burning eyes. Alto felt a very low shiver in his chest, but he didn't drop his gaze. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Xeno turned away and all but marched back under the archways he came in through. Alto waited until he was well and truly gone before letting out a breath that deflated his entire body. Tuning Sakuya when she was angry was already a daunting task. Tuning an angry Xeno... Well. He was about to find out.

* * *

Xeno said not a word as Medea opened the great doors for him and Alto to step through. Alto could feel the hairs prickling on the back of his neck at the way Xeno's eyes seemed to fix on nothing in particular, and this time he was sure his usual ripple of goosebumps was from more than just the cold.

The doors clanged shut behind them. Alto squared his shoulders, turned towards Xeno, and waited.

The silence stretched on for what seemed like hours. Xeno seemed content to stare in silence at the iron bars that enclosed the Soul Prison. There was an icy cast over Xeno's eyes that matched the chill of the air around them, and when he finally spoke, his voice held that same, chilly distance.

"You could be using this time doing more important things." His eyes flicked towards Alto, then away again, tracing the long curls of wrought iron that decorated the walls. "As you so clearly mentioned yourself, you're the Grand Master now."

"I'm something more important than that," Alto said. "I'm the Conductor. And this is the most important thing I could be doing right now. Klaus, why are you pushing yourself this hard when you know how bad it is for you?"

"Because I have to."

"That isn't a reason."

Xeno's jaw shut with an audible click. Alto could see the muscles in his throat working silently. And there, glowing at the dip of his throat, was the telling light. "There has to be one," he said. "If you aren't going to tell me, then I'm going to find out myself."

* * *

A wounded roar echoed through the darkened space. Alto nearly had to cover his ears to keep himself from being deafened. The vibrations of the sound made the stars on the backdrop of Xeno's spirit world flicker and dim. The steady turn of the sun and moon wavered and slowed, and even the fierce, steady light qualia high above them seemed to flutter, just for a moment.

Alto looked over the edge of the platform he stood on. Several more platforms dropped downward from where he was, creating wide, flat tiers down below him, filled with shadowy angels that milled and hissed and sang their discordant, jangling songs at one another. On the bottom-most tier was a tall birdcage that looked like it might also be constructed of shadows. And within that cage, prowling back and forth with a snarl etched into his face, was Klaus.

Alto's heart stopped for half a second when the shadow looked up. This one looked different from the last. His hair had gone blonde once again. He wore the white armor lined in gold that Alto remembered being so impressed by the first time he'd seen it. The eyes that met Alto's were the same blue that Xeno wore now, but the expression that twisted up across his face was something he had hoped never to see again.

" _YOU!"_ He beat his armored fists against the bars. "You're responsible for this! Let me out! Let me _out!"_

The angels grew more agitated with every word. Their ear-splitting songs grew in volume along with Klaus' voice until his entire spirit world seemed to shake with it. Alto's eyes narrowed as he counted them, gauging distances and timing. He held out one hand for a moment and felt Elcrest's will settle into it, then spread around him like a protective shield. And then he blurred into motion.

Once a moving panel was taken, it couldn't be taken again until it was moved back. That made it easy for Alto to duck and weave across the first two tiers, lashing out in response only to attacks he actually took. All he had to do was get past them and get to the next platform. Each step brought him closer and closer to the howling fury that waited, and by the time he got to the lowest level, he had already taken several nasty blows. But there were only a few angels here, and it was a matter of minutes to clear them away with a few long, sweeping arcs of his blade. And then there was nothing but the distant hiss of the angels he'd left behind on the higher levels and Xeno, standing inside his cage with his hands tight around the bars and glowering at Alto as though his stare alone would burn him away.

"So here you are," he said, his voice a low growl. "What do you plan to do, Alto? This place won't hold me forever. He's not strong enough. I'm going to escape, and when I do, I'm going to make you regret the day you woke up from your little nap."

Alto straightened. He turned to face Klaus, his hand gripped tight around the blade in his hand, and lowered himself into the opening posture for the technique Elcrest had taught him. Klaus bared his teeth some grim approximation of a smile. "Are you going to kill me? Do it! If you don't do it now, you may never get the chance again!"

Alto surged forward. He moved as if in a trance, each step coming to him as naturally as if he had always known it. His blade danced in a deadly whirl of glittering steel that scattered the orange light of the qualia with every flick of his wrist. And then he dove for the final blow, and the iron bars shattered as though they had been made of glass, cut through in a thousand different directions.

Klaus stared down at his own hands. Inspected his armor for any sign of damage. Then he looked slowly up at Alto, his eyes darkly overshadowed, and began to smile again. "What was the point of that?" he said softly. "Now you've set me free. Now I can do anything I want. He won't be able to hold me back any more. I'm going to find you. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to free our Mother from the trap you put her in, and then—"

Alto sheathed his sword. It was three steps to close in on Klaus, and then he reached out and put his arms around him, embracing him.

Klaus' voice caught in his chest. A shudder raced through him, and he growled very quietly—but he didn't pull away. "What are you doing? Do you have any idea what I could do to you?"

"Of course I know." Alto's grip tightened. "But you're not going to."

"I will! You'll see!" Klaus' voice darkened with every word. "You're a fool for letting me go free!"

"No," Alto said. "You're the fool for locking yourself away. You shouldn't be hidden or forgotten. You're _real._ And you're important. Too important to stay hidden away in this place."

The sound Klaus made was choked, as though something had closed itself around his throat. Alto didn't dare move. Not until he felt arms very slowly curl around his back. Only then did he look up to see Klaus staring down at him with wide eyes. "Why are you doing this to me?" His voice cracked. "Don't you know what I am?"

"You're a man," Alto said. "A man who suffered a horrible fate. A man who committed horrible crimes. A man who deserves a chance to be the man we always thought you were." He smiled faintly, his eyes softening and going sad. "I should have noticed it sooner. You've been trying so hard to keep this part of you locked away. You're so afraid of what _might_ happen that you're killing yourself trying to prevent it. But you've already decided what it is you want to do, and it isn't this."

Klaus lowered his head. His arms tightened around Alto, and then fell away as he stepped back. "What happens if I do come back? Will you be able to kill me if you have to?"

"No," Alto said, and Klaus' eyes flashed, but he held up one hand to silence him. "I already told you. You don't have to die. You don't have to work yourself into an early grave. You don't have to kill yourself trying to cover up your past. You need to work hard, maybe harder than anyone else, but it has to be towards the future."

Klaus closed his eyes for a long time. "I am still here," he finally said, but his voice had lost its raw, wild edge. Now it sounded more like the Klaus that Alto remembered. "I'll never really be gone. But I can be a warning, not a prisoner. I was made for breaking, but even I can build. And I will. From now on, I will."

Alto smiled, and the whole world disappeared in a blaze of white.

* * *

Xeno's eyes were wide. He reached up and pressed a hand against his chest. Alto watched him sharply, but he didn't stagger, not the way he had last time. His attention seemed turned inward somehow, enough that Alto was almost reluctant to speak.

"How do you feel?" he finally asked in the quietest voice he could manage.

Xeno glanced up at him with that same wide look of...confusion? No, that wasn't quite right, but Alto couldn't put his finger on what it was. "I feel...quiet," Xeno said, and there was a strange, soft tone in his voice that made Alto's spine tense. He sounded _vulnerable._ Not weak, not exactly, but open in a way not even his previous tunings had left him.

Alto exhaled a long breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "You've been holding in so much fear for so long, it must have felt normal. But this is better, isn't it?"

"I would say so." Xeno managed a dim laugh. "You're right. I've been so afraid of myself. So sure that if I didn't strengthen myself now, I'd backslide into someone who might do all those things again. Or maybe..." He hesitated, then squared himself to meet Alto's gaze. "Maybe part of me wanted to weaken myself enough that I would never be a problem again."

Alto's entire chest clenched. He caught Xeno's wrist and squeezed it as tight as he could. "One tuning can't fix that," he said very softly. "Not even several tunings can fix that. I don't know what can. But struggling by yourself to fight demons in your own head can't be helping. I told you last time, didn't I? We're all here for you if you need us. You just have to recognize when you do."

Xeno let out a long breath of his own. "I know. And I'm going to work...not harder. Smarter, perhaps. Better. So that you don't have to worry about me so much any more."

"I'm always going to worry." Alto prodded gently at Xeno's elbow with one finger. "You're important to me. To all of us. And it's kind of my job to make sure you're not getting yourself hurt, so you're taking the rest of the day off."

"How things have changed." Xeno smiled, and Alto felt himself grinning in return. If nothing else, that one thing meant success. "Fine. There's a new patisserie that's opened up within the last week or so that I haven't had the chance to visit."

"That actually sounds pretty good," Alto admitted. "Maybe I'll have to come along. Just to make sure you actually go."

Xeno's eyes flashed as his smile curled a little higher. "I hope you don't expect me to pay for you."

"Uh...I was kinda hoping you might?"

"Perhaps. If I feel like it. But maybe you should bring your wallet, just in case."

" _Fine."_


	7. Serenade

VII - Serenade

It wasn't uncommon to hear song echoing through the royal grounds. Even now, after all was said and done, Lambert was still a gathering center for creatures of music. Popo visited freely, waltzing through wherever the wind happened to take her. Hilda and Sakuya came and went whenever their duties allowed. Lisette, in her place as a medical professional, was here more often than she was back in Mithra. Mordimort was hesitant to return to the desert, even with Kashmistan well on its way to being rebuilt, and so had never really left. Marie stayed in the castle, alternating nights sleeping in the barracks and sleeping at Rena's house. And even Giselle could sometimes be heard, practicing the eerie, haunting notes she had found for herself. Music was a part of life when you lived within the walls of this castle.

Even so...this voice was different.

Alto wasn't sure if it was his own memory or some side ability of being the Conductor, but once he'd heard a song, he remembered every detail about it. Once he'd heard a witch sing, he could identify their voice without looking, almost without thinking, even with his attention divided. But he didn't even need that ability to know who this was. After all, of all the singing voices that frequented these grounds, only one of them was male.

Alto followed it step by slow step. The sound led him upwards and out onto the observatory. And there he had to pause, because if he moved any closer, he was half afraid he would shatter this image into irreparable pieces. Ripples of light danced in slow circles around Xeno, cocooning him in an orange-white glow. Both of his hands rested on the edge of the low wall that overlooked the barracks. But more than the calm, serene light and the soft reverberation of his voice, Alto found himself looking in surprise at Xeno's clothing.

He wore a white, sleeveless coat with a yellow-gold collar and crenelated lapels that ran all the way down its length. The hem of the coat was asymmetrical, with one side ending just below his knee and the other brushing his ankle. Beneath the coat he wore a dark orange tunic with a neckline that dove almost all the way to the center of his chest, belted at the waist with what seemed to be a woven belt. He had low brown boots and wide orange leg wraps that crisscrossed up his calves. The light that hummed around him sent curling patterns of orange scattering across the tails of his coat, twisting the way light did when reflecting off of water.

The song faded. From here Alto could see the faintest of smiles light up his lips. Then he turned, and the expression blinked out, replaced with surprise when their eyes met.

"Alto!" Xeno took half a step back and bumped into the observatory wall. "You've been getting better at moving quietly. I barely heard you."

"You were pretty distracted." Alto smiled. He looked Xeno up and down and folded his arms. "You know...I've never actually seen you wearing your witch's clothing before. I think it suits you."

Xeno's lips pressed tight. He looked back out over the city, one hand closing on the edge of the stone wall. "I'm not sure it does. It's very... Well. There isn't much of it."

Alto arched one eyebrow. "Really?" Skepticism coated his voice. "Maybe you should look at the outfits the other witches ended up with and then get back to me."

"I know that!" Xeno's voice came out sharp. Alto's other eyebrow lifted to join the first. Xeno exhaled and pressed one hand against his face, and took a moment before he spoke again. "I'm honestly not sure how they do it," he said in a more level voice. "This is tactically _awful._ Most of the other witches attack from range, so I suppose they have a higher chance of avoiding damage, but Sakuya is a swordswoman. I still have far more power with my weapons than my magic. Why is it that the qualias insist on giving their witches the most ridiculous, impractical outfits it can come up with?"

"I seriously wish I could tell you." Alto shook his head. "It would sure make it easier to keep them from getting hurt. I'm just glad the 9th has always been good about protecting them. Otherwise I hate to think about what might have happened on the battlefield."

Xeno grimaced and looked out at the city again. "I know compared to what they wear, this is fairly modest. But I still can't help feeling...exposed."

Alto stepped up beside him. From here he could see over the top of the barracks and down the gently sloping tiers of Lambert. Late in the afternoon as it was, the sun reflected golden off of every surface it could reach. Alto studied it for a long time, and then looked up at Xeno with the same quiet, thoughtful look. "I think those outfits exist so the witches can be seen no matter what," he finally said. "If they aren't recognized for who and what they are, they lose their status as a symbol in the human mind. And Eve relied a lot on humans revering the witches. If we didn't recognize them and either respect or fear them, they wouldn't have as much power to direct the flow of human history."

Xeno considered that for a moment. "I'm not sure I agree," he said, "but it isn't as though the qualias themselves are going to give us any explanations. I suppose your theory is as good as any other."

"Gee, thanks." Alto rolled his eyes. "Why are you so caught up about this, anyway? If you don't like the clothes, don't wear them."

"I normally don't," Xeno reminded him with a slight quirk of his eyebrows.

Alto gave him a flat look. "Then why are you making a big deal about it now? You're the one who decided you wanted to run around in them. You wouldn't be doing it unless you thought you had a good reason."

The corners of Xeno's eyes tightened. He looked out over the observatory wall again. Alto tensed, half expecting to see shadows wrapping around him. But Xeno breathed out very slowly, and the taut pain in his face melted into something softer.

"The spring equinox festival is two weeks from today, isn't it?" He spoke very quietly now. "It's been so long that maybe I shouldn't remember any more. But it was a fortnight before that festival that I first met Elcrest." He glanced at Alto, then away again, but the expression in his eyes in that moment hit Alto like a fist straight into the chest. "Back then, Lambert was a small city. Not even a hundred people lived here, and this castle wasn't nearly as grand as it is now. So many things have changed."

"Regnant has grown since you were king," Alto said softly. "Back then, the whole kingdom was just Lambert and the closest towns to it, right?"

Xeno nodded. "And now the kingdom runs all the way south to the coast. West through the desert. East to the mountains, and not as far north as it once did, but far enough that winter seems to last most of the year. It stood against every threat that's ever faced it—including the one I put it through. And I'm sure it will continue to last long after we're gone."

Alto studied him for a long time. He hesitated just for a moment, considered not speaking, and then said it anyway. "Are you worried they'll forget you again?"

"No." The reply was firm enough that the tension in Alto's shoulders released. "Time passes. Things are forgotten. I understand that now, and I think... I think I'm proud of them. This place and its people deserve to have new heroes. They've outgrown their old ones."

"But you're still singing for them," Alto said.

A dim smile flicked across Xeno's face. "They deserve a sunny day today," he said. "Even if it's really only important to me."

No chains. No shadows. Alto waited a beat or two for them to appear, just in case. But despite the faint afterechoes of sorrow that haunted Xeno's voice, he seemed centered. Not at peace, exactly, but serene in a way Alto saw from him only rarely, if ever.

"I only heard the very end of your song," he said. "Do you mind singing it again?"

Xeno blinked at him. And then a smile worked its way very slowly up his face, warming his eyes to a color that matched the cloudless sky almost perfectly. "Whatever the Conductor wills."

"Come on. Don't even start that."

Xeno chuckled. "As you wish." He paused for a moment, running his fingertips along the rough stone of the wall. Then he tipped his head back and sang. Alto closed his eyes, letting the sound run through him. There was a sad, distant fondness in it that buzzed in his head, and after a few moments the warm afternoon sunlight really did seem to feel warmer. More gentle. It felt as though he could reach out and feel it rippling through the air like a solid thing, like water or like smooth silk.

Alto cast his eyes over the sloping rooftops of the city. The streets buzzed with activity. The faintest echo of voices and laughter bounced up towards them and past them into the clear blue sky. Beside him Xeno sang in a rich, warm voice. And high above, from the pale disc of the moon that glinted overhead, came a fluttering trill of joyous notes that sent shivers racing down his spine. Between them all, they created a symphony Alto could never have dreamed of conducting himself—something wild and discordant and somehow all in perfect harmony with itself.

This was his city. His kingdom. This was the music of its soul, the music that all of them had fought to preserve. And as long as it continued to thrive the way it did now, it came very close to making all the pain they had suffered worth it.

* * *

The garb of the Solar Witch can be found at tinyurl **lzxwmx2.** Xeno's song can be found at tinyurl **ksyqclj.** Thanks for reading!


	8. Cadenza

VIII - Cadenza

Alto frowned at the stack of paperwork on his desk. No matter how much time he spent here focusing on it, it never seemed to get any smaller. There were always new reports to read from the scattered garrisons across the kingdom. There were always supply requests to check carefully over and either put through or deny. There was always more, and Alto found himself yawning widely before he could stop himself. It wasn't even mid-afternoon yet. Why was he so tired?

Someone rapped sharply at the office door. Alto straightened his shoulders and pushed his tiredness away. "It's open," he called.

The door swung open, and in came Xeno, carrying a (blessedly small) stack of papers. "New reports from the border garrisons," he said, setting them down beside the pile Alto was working through. "Fortunately, none of them require immediate attention. You can wait on them for a little while."

"Thanks, Klaus." Alto sighed and set his pen down. "Even with the way you talked about it, I had no idea being the Grand Master was going to be like this. I haven't gotten to sleep in late in weeks!"

"Well, it _is_ closing in on summer." Xeno shuffled quickly through the stack of reports. "Everything is going to be more active."

Alto sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's not as bad in the winter because nobody wants to be out there in the snow, not even monsters. Messages travel more slowly, too. But then, you have to deal with more internal problems during winter. People in the city start going stir-crazy because they can't go out and do anything else, so..." His voice trailed off. Xeno was looking at him with raised brows, and he felt the back of his neck go warm. "What?"

"You've really thought this through," Xeno said with a very small smile. "It took me nearly my entire time serving as Grand Master to learn that pattern."

Alto shifted his weight and ducked his head. "Well...I mean, when you look back on how the work stacks up, it's pretty obvious. It was always harder to get ahold of you during the summer."

"I see." Xeno looked down at the papers again, and though the smile didn't fade from his face, something about it seemed...a little fixed. "Try not to let it overtake you."

Alto looked up at him. His eyes had gone distant in that way they did when he was dwelling on something he shouldn't be. Alto spread his hands out across the desk and rose to his feet. "Klaus, I—"

The door slammed open again. "Commander!"

"Yes?" Alto and Xeno said at the same time. Archibald slowed his rush and looked between the two of them, his brows knitting, and Xeno waved a hand, laughing just a little. "Sorry. Old habits. Please, go on."

Archibald nodded once to Xeno, then straightened his shoulders. "Commander Alto, this is an outrage!" He threw a roll of parchment down on the desk and folded his arms. "The 5th Regiment has requisitioned the entire armory for their own personal use! I cannot condone such blatant abuse of the privileges of a knight!"

Alto unrolled the sheet of parchment. He felt Xeno drift a little closer to study it over his shoulder. "That _is_ a little unusual," Xeno murmured. "Especially going outside of the chain of command like this."

Archibald frowned deeply. "Precisely! If this order had come down from the Grand Master himself, then perhaps I would be more willing to acquiesce. But care and maintenance of the armory has always been a duty of the Archibald family! To allow unfettered access to even the most precise and delicate weapons is unthinkable!"

Alto read the parchment over again. "I think I see where they're coming from, though," he said. "There are weapons in there that most regular soldiers don't know exist, let alone how to use. I bet even Rusty doesn't know half of them, and he's been a knight way longer than me."

Archibald's chin jutted out. "Rusty is _not_ a good example of an attentive and diligent knight."

"I guess you have a point there," Alto said ruefully. "Still. If you found yourself in a situation where you had lost your weapon and needed to fight with whatever was on hand, would you be able to do it?"

"Of course!" Archibald puffed out his chest. "I may not be as familiar with their advanced techniques, but I know the basics of each and every weapon stored here!"

Alto nodded. "You've done a lot of studying and a lot of training," he said. "You worked hard for years to gain all that knowledge. But you've had an entire family line to teach you everything you need to know. Who does the 5th have that can teach them that kind of thing?"

Archibald paused. Alto glanced sideways at Xeno, who watched them both with a closed, unreadable expression. Xeno must have dealt with internal issues like this before, right? He must have a better idea of what should be said here. But he gave absolutely no sign of what he might be thinking and offered no comments, so Alto straightened his spine and turned his attention to Archibald again. He, at least, seemed to be seriously considering what Alto had just told him.

"I suppose," he said slowly, "that I would be the closest thing to a weapons expert the Regnant Knights have right now."

"And the commander of the 5th brought this directly to you, right?"

"She did," Archibald said, even more slowly. "But as the Grand Master, a requisition like this ought to go through you."

Alto shook his head. "This isn't a requisition. It's a request. You're the one who's always been in charge of the armory and everything in it. I think it's a sign of respect that she went to you first. After all, like you said, you're the weapons expert here."

Archibald picked up the parchment again and squinted at it. "Neither she nor her knights will have any idea what to do with them. Picking up a new weapon with no idea how it should be used is dangerous. You could severely injure yourself."

A grin tugged at Alto's face. "Then I guess it's your responsibility to teach them, huh?"

Archibald looked over the top of the parchment in surprise. "Commander, I am only a self-proclaimed weapons enthusiast, at best. It is true that my family has studied the care and keeping of these weapons for generations, but my personal passion for knowing their correct use is different. I am the first to begin such a tradition in the Archibald name. Am I truly qualified to teach an entire regiment?"

"Yes," Alto and Xeno said in unison. Alto looked at Xeno and gestured for him to speak, but he already seemed to have disengaged from the conversation, so Alto returned his attention once more to the increasingly confused-looking Archibald.

"You taught me, didn't you?" Alto rested his hand lightly on the pommel of the sword he kept leaning against the arm of his chair. "Both about how to use a longsword in particular and about pretty much every other weapon in there. You wouldn't let me leave until I could recite everything you'd taught me back to you! If you could get that stuff through _my_ thick skull, I bet you can take care of the 5th, no problem."

Archibald grinned and rolled up the parchment with a quick, practiced motion. "Certainly, they will be quicker learners than some. Though if I may say, I think you have learned quickly enough to be an excellent commander."

"He has, hasn't he?"

Xeno's voice was very quiet. Archibald hesitated for just a moment. Then he smiled and snapped of a sharp salute. "He learned from the best, Commander Klaus. Now, if you both will excuse me, I must prepare the armory!"

He hustled out the door and all but slammed it shut behind him. Alto waited until his heavy footsteps disappeared down the hall. Then he rolled his shoulders until they cracked and looked at Xeno. He had retreated all the way back to the wall near the window now. His expression was still stony in a way that set Alto's teeth on edge. And there were those shadows writhing their way in from the corners of his vision to entangle Xeno in black and purple thorns.

"Klaus?"

Xeno looked Alto over for a very long moment. Then he smiled, but it didn't even begin to reach his eyes. "I suppose I need to be tuned, don't I? If even I can feel it, it must be bad."

"I don't know about bad, but definitely strange." Alto pushed his chair back and rose to his feet. "What's going on with you today? Archibald was looking for your input, too. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I have my reasons." Xeno gave him another thin smile. "If you're interested in them, you're welcome to tune me and find out for yourself."

Alto leveled him the steadiest look he could muster. "Fine. Head down to the Tuning Hall. I'll be there as soon as I wrap this up."

"As you wish."

Xeno swept out the door. Alto ran both hands down his face and let out a long breath. Xeno had always been tight-lipped, especially about this kind of thing, but this was ridiculous. And Alto knew he shouldn't allow himself to be annoyed. But Xeno had been _pleased,_ or at least he'd said he was. What kind of backwards signal was he trying to send like this?

What did he _want?_

* * *

Xeno was already waiting in the Soul Prison when Alto arrived. Medea had said he was too anxious to wait, which was a surprise, considering how reluctant Xeno normally was to step through those doors. She had warned Alto that she could sense a very delicate balance in Xeno right now. Something in him was precarious, and Alto would have to be more careful than ever before.

Xeno watched him step inside. His eyes were alert, calculating, and Alto had to fight back the instinct to curl away. He remembered that look. It was the look Xeno gave when he was sizing someone up. Gauging their strength and their overall ability. He'd looked at many an opponent with that deadly calm before tearing them to pieces.

Alto himself had been on the receiving end of that stare before. The memories of glowing eyes and a cracked, mechanical smile flashed back to him unbidden, but he pushed it away. This wasn't the time to let those memories interfere. He needed to focus.

"You've been acting weird, Klaus," Alto said. "Why do you want to see me here? What is it you're so worried about that you can't just tell me?"

"It's not something that can be taken care of with a simple conversation." Xeno squared himself up with Alto. That stance was a guarded one, ready for anything. "I do have doubts. And this is the best way to be rid of them, isn't it?"

Alto frowned. But there was the light that bloomed up at Xeno's throat, and Alto let out a sharp huff of breath, shaking his head. "Alright. If this is what it'll take, I'll tune you. And I'll put your concerns to rest."

* * *

When Alto touched down inside of Xeno's spirit world, he had expected the shadows he'd seen before. There were always a few dark angels twisting about here and there, only half-formed until Xeno's emotions made them real. Now there were none. There was only a single platform, lit by the gently pulsing light of the solar qualia. And at the other end of the platform stood Xeno—not a shadow, not an image of his past, but the present Xeno, with his lighter armor and his bright blue eyes, with his darkened hair shot through by one streak of gold.

"So this is my spirit world," Xeno mused, looking around. "The last time I was here, I was in no condition to pay attention. It's...interesting, to say the least."

No matter how many times he did this, Alto was always surprised to find a witch here of their own volition. Alto took a moment to steady himself. This was what Medea must have meant about Xeno being in a precarious state. But this tuning was always the most important.

"Xeno," Alto said, stepping towards him. "Please. Tell me what's going on. You act as though you're pleased with something, but then you completely lock down and tell me something is wrong. You won't tell me what it is. Did I do something wrong?"

Xeno shook his head. "No," he said in a low voice. "You haven't. And that's exactly what I need to be sure of." He held out one hand. His spear materialized into it, and Xeno set himself in a low, ready stance, leveling the weapon at Alto. "Tell me, Alto. In a short year, you went from a being a village hunter to being the Conductor and the Grand Master of the Regnant Knights. How confident are you in that position?"

Alto knitted his brows and stepped away again. "What do you mean? What are you doing?"

A small, challenging smile touched Xeno's lips. "Being a leader takes strength. It takes determination, and it takes bravery. You have to be willing to face any challenge without backing down. So what will it be? Are you willing to face me and prove you have the strength?"

Alto's lips thinned. "There's still something you're not telling me," he said, drawing his blade. "But if this is the way you want to do this, then so be it!"

He charged. Xeno set his spear, his eyes glinting, and Alto spent the first several seconds pushing just to get into range. Xeno flipped his spear each time Alto tried to dodge around him. Each assault was met with a rapid flurry of blows, until Alto stood panting, still just out of his own sword's reach and just within the reach of Xeno's spear.

"Come on, Alto," Xeno said, readying himself again. "I know you can do better than this!"

Heat spiked in the back of Alto's throat, pushing him to charge again. But that would do him no good. He couldn't get around behind Xeno, with how well he guarded his flank. This time when he moved in, he managed to duck under Xeno's spear and land a heavy blow to his side, heavy enough to make him stumble.

"Good!" Xeno turned and used his own momentum to strike at Alto and push him back. A fierce light began to glow in his eyes, made fiercer by the orange glint from his qualia. "Again!"

The two of them danced up and down the platform. Alto found himself ducking and dodging more than he ever had just to close in. He landed one blow, maybe two if he managed a counterattack while he was still in range, but then he had to retreat again and lead Xeno on a merry chase up and down the uneven tiles.

Xeno must have been training again, correctly this time. His endurance didn't seem to be flagging at all, while Alto could feel a stitch beginning to creep up in his side. He needed to end this now, before he found himself too exhausted to fight.

He stopped short and dodged to the side. Xeno charged straight past him. Alto heart a sharp sound of frustration, but Alto had already stepped in behind him and, with a fierce cry, launched himself into the unstoppable combination of blows Elcrest had taught him. He saw Xeno's eyes widen as he half-turned, lifting the haft of his spear in some futile attempt to block, and for his trouble only managed to find the thing snapped in half as Alto delivered the final blow that dropped him to the ground.

For a long time Xeno said nothing. He lay sprawled out on his back where he had fallen, now finally starting to pant for air. Alto stood over him, his sword still gripped tightly in his hand, now all but gasping. The last time the two of them had truly fought, Alto had the rest of the Tuning Knights to back him. But he'd done it. Somehow, he had done it. He had _won._

Xeno didn't open his eyes, but he smiled. "That's it, then," he said in a barely audible voice. "You really are strong enough to do whatever you need to do."

"Why did you need me to prove it to you like this?" The point of Alto's sword lowered all the way to the ground. "Don't you trust me?"

"It isn't a matter of trust, exactly." Xeno opened his eyes and stared up into the sky, up at the qualia that continued to pulse overhead. "Not mine, anyway. I needed to know if you trusted in yourself. I wanted to be sure you didn't need me any more."

Alto's jaw locked. He sheathed his sword with a sharp motion and crouched down beside Xeno, helping him up to a seated position. "Is that what this is really about?"

Xeno moved as if to push Alto's arm away. Instead he left the palm of his hand resting against Alto's forearm, his eyes clouding over. "Look at yourself," he said. "Look at everything you've done. Everything you've become. You're an incredibly powerful fighter. You've already all but memorized the patterns and strategies a Grand Master needs to know to work effectively. You navigated a potentially treacherous political situation with ease. There's nothing else I can possibly teach you. You don't need me."

"That doesn't matter!" Alto took Xeno's shoulders with both hands. His throat felt taut, like someone had caught his windpipe in one fist and squeezed. "I _want_ you around! Isn't that more important?!"

Xeno looked at him with an expression of surprise that made the tightness in Alto's throat spread down into his chest. "I don't care about how strong you are or how much random information you have in your head," Alto said, his grip tightening. "I don't care about how _useful_ you are. I don't want you to stay just because I can use you! I want you to stay because I respect you and care about you!"

"Alto..."

Alto clenched his teeth so hard he could feel his jaw crack. "If I'm strong today, it's because of you. Everything you taught me, both the good things and the bad ones. Archie said it himself, right? You were the best commander anyone could have hoped for. You're not just here to make up for your sins. You're not just here so we can squeeze whatever usefulness we can out of you. You're here because we care. I care. And I'm not going to let you keep thinking you aren't worth anything when you _are,_ if for no other reason than because I want you to be!"

A small smile cracked its way across Xeno's face. "It sounds so selfish when you put it like that."

"It is," Alto said, helping him the rest of the way to his feet. "But we're allowed to be sometimes, aren't we? The desire to be happy, the desire to take care of yourself...it's all incredibly selfish." He managed a smile of his own, his grip still tight on Xeno's arms. "It isn't just me. Some of the 9th are always going to be a little messed up about what you did, but most of us...we just want you to stay. So stop thinking no one wants you. We do."

Xeno let out a breath that sent shudders all the way up and down his body. He rested a hand of his own on Alto's shoulder, hesitated, and then pulled it away again. "It's been hard for me to believe that," he said. "But I'll work harder. Thank you, Alto."

The solar qualia brightened. It radiated brilliant orange light that bloomed into blinding white, and the world around them shattered.

* * *

Alto scrubbed at his eyes. His head spun for a moment longer, dark spots dancing behind his eyes. Then he heard a faint rustle and a startled sound from Xeno, and he opened his eyes, and had to bite down on a short gasp of his own.

He had armor again. It looked much like the skeletal armor his angelic form had worn, except now, instead of bleached bone-white, it shone burnished gold. Beneath the armor he wore a sleeveless shirt of dark red that seemed only to cover his chest, leaving his entire midriff exposed. He wore dark, calf-length trousers trimmed in red and boots with golden accents to match his armor, and a long, golden earring hung from one ear. And though Xeno had already begun to frown down at the exposed skin of his own torso, Alto found his attention drawn upward and outward, because now Xeno had _wings._

Popo's wings had been startling enough. Those had been small and delicate things that flicked and fluttered whenever she got excited. These were _massive._ They reminded Alto of the wings of an angel, or maybe even one of the Calamities. He had several white tiers to them, spoked with grey and yellow. The feathers shaded from orange through yellow to red. One of them flicked sideways with such force that Xeno almost overbalanced, and Alto had to catch his arm again with a laugh that sounded a little breathless.

"You look amazing," he said warmly. "I can tell you don't like it, but really. You do."

Xeno shook himself out. His wings drew inward against his back. "I have no idea how I'm going to wear anything like normal armor with these," he said ruefully, "so I guess I'm going to have to get used to it."

He looked down at Alto for a moment, and very slowly, his expression melted into a warm smile. "Do you remember the first time you asked me to come spar with you?"

"I was _terrified,"_ Alto laughed. "I'm still not sure if I was more scared you'd say no or yes!"

"All things considered, I'm still not sure why I agreed." Xeno's eyes were soft now. "But I'm glad I did. You really have become an impressive person." His wings drifted outward, then back in. "I think I've done enough dwelling on the past for a thousand lifetimes. As long as this is where I'm wanted, this is where I'm going to stay."

"Good." Alto grinned at him. "That means you're stuck here. And just in time, because Lisette has been meaning to pick your brain about cake recipes."

Xeno actually laughed. "We've been over this. I'm not a baker, just a simple connoisseur of the baking arts. But I suppose if she plans to use me as a guinea pig, no great loss. She _has_ been improving."

"Maybe that's the place you've been looking for," Alto said with a smirk. "Official taste tester of the Regnant Knights. I'm sure Popo has plenty of dandelion coffee left for inspection, too."

Xeno winced. Alto couldn't stop the laugh bubbling up in his stomach, and after a moment Xeno was laughing again as well, though more softly. Even if he still didn't realize it, or was only realizing it just now, he _did_ have a place. He belonged right here with them, with the witches and with the 9th. And if Alto had his way, that was never going to change.

* * *

 _Xeno's usual wear can be found at tinyurl_ **mrjgob8.** _His godgear can be found at tinyurl_ **ke96nym.** _We're not done just yet, folks._


	9. Roulade

IX - Roulade

"How long do you think they've been up there?"

Alto squinted up through the trees. High above them he could see two figures streaking back and forth across the cloudless sky. One of them was a small, agile blur of green and gold. It pivoted and turned on a breath, dashing back and forth and in circles around the other. The second figure reflected reds and golds and moved with slower, more powerful wingbeats,. It carved wide, graceful arcs across the sky, bringing itself around to chase after the smaller figure that danced away from him.

"I dunno," he said. "They're going to get tired eventually."

"And then they're going to want to eat everything in sight." Lisette sighed and scrunched her nose at the cookpot. "I guess we'd better make more."

Mordimort looked up hopefully from where she sat tending the fire. "Mor...food?"

Sakuya snorted. "They're the ones who decided they wanted to tire themselves out," she said, folding her arms. "Let 'em go hungry. We didn't pack enough food for them to be eating so much every day."

"We have plenty." Hilda set her knife down. She picked up the flat wooden board in front of her and tipped the tubers she'd been chopping into the pot. "We've done enough hunting and gathering along the way to stretch our supplies a little."

Mordimort nodded emphatically. "I can find...mor food," she said. "I didn't know...there were so many tasty things...that grew under the ground."

Hilda sent her a small smile. "You're getting very good at recognizing which ones are edible."

"And your powers make it pretty easy to dig them out!" Lisette beamed. "Hilda's right. We can afford to make some extra. Maybe even enough for all of us to have seconds tonight."

Alto nodded. "We'll restock once we get to Port Noir. It's only another day or two out—there's plenty of time."

Sakuya rolled her eyes skyward. "Fine, whatever. If you guys want to pig out, it's no sweat off my back. Jeez, how long are those two going to be bouncing around like idiots up there? The least they could do is get down here and help with dinner!"

" _You're_ not helping with dinner," Mordimort muttered.

"Excuse me? I'm supervising! It's an important job!"

Hilda's eyes went sharp, but anything she might have said was swallowed up beneath a sudden gust of wind and a rush of wings. Popo giggled madly as she dropped right down beside Sakuya. Her pale green wings still fluttered, as though she might take off again at any moment. "Is dinner almost ready? I smelled something really good! Can I have some?"

"Not yet," Lisette said. "We only just added the veggies. You'll have to wait a little longer."

"Aww!" Popo pouted and folded her arms. "But it smelled so good..."

"You should learn a little patience," Hilda said, but even under her stern tone, her voice was warm. "It'll be ready when it's ready. And now that you're back, you can take a turn watching the fire."

Popo's wings buzzed. Her chest puffed out, but Hilda gave her a long stare, and she let her breath puff out of her. She moved over to Mordimort and flopped down on the ground beside her with another huff.

Mordimort patted her arm. "It's okay," she said. "I'm hungry, too."

"You're always hungry," Sakuya said. "That doesn't count."

Alto looked around, and then back up at the sky, his brows furrowed. "Hey, Popo...where's Klaus?"

Popo paused. She looked upward as well, and then around the campsite, confusion lighting up her eyes. "I'unno. I told him I smelled food before I came back. I guess he didn't follow me."

Lisette paused her stirring of the pot and frowned. "Is he overworking himself again? I thought we talked to him about this already! If he tires himself out and crashes or something..."

"He'll be alright." Hilda finished wiping down the knife she'd used and slid it carefully back into its sheath. "He's an adult, and he knows where we are. He'll find his way back to us."

"Besides, he won't crash!" Popo piped up. "He's getting really good at flying! I'm almost out of things to teach him—he figured them all out really fast."

Alto's lips pursed. After a long moment, he rose to his feet. "I should go see if I can find him."

Sakuya frowned at him. "What are you, stupid? You're going to try to chase down the guy with wings while you're on foot? You're just gonna get lost, and then we'll have to come find _you,_ and dinner will never get done."

"Which, of course, is the most important thing," Lisette said lightly, and grinned when Sakuya glowered at her.

Sakuya opened her mouth as though to say something in reply—and then stopped short. She straightened and tilted her head to the side, furrowing brows. "Do you hear that?" she said slowly.

The whole circle went quiet. Alto squeezed his eyes shut to block out any other input. At first all he could hear was the crackling fire, the wind rustling through the trees...and very faintly, the jangling sound of angel song.

He was up on his feet and running before he quite realized what he was doing. Popo had already taken to the air—he could hear the whine of her wings as she dashed past above the canopy. Sakuya had one hand on the hilt of her blade as she ran in step with him, her head and shoulders tucked low. Hilda snapped out of existence in rapid succession, leaping ahead of them with every stride. Mordimort and Lisette followed behind them, not as fast as the rest, but fast enough that Alto could afford not to waste time worrying that they might be left behind.

"Over here!"

Alto pivoted and sprang off in the direction of Popo's voice. Now he could hear the whinging sound of her arrows and the heavy crash of steel against angelic armor. The Song Stone flashed in its sheath twice, and then again, and Alto counted himself lucky that it filled itself with power even when he wasn't in battle just yet.

The group burst free of the treeline into a wide clearing. Xeno had carved a wide swath around himself, and Popo's arrows had more than discouraged any other angels from approaching him just yet. The lines nearest to them turned, only now realizing there was a new threat, but Alto didn't slow for a moment as he crashed headlong into their ranks.

Angels, Alto had realized in his time fighting them, were not smart. They were powerful beings that could easily mow you down if you weren't paying attention or had no way to fight them, but they weren't intelligent. They milled and bellowed and swarmed, and when they packed themselves in dense clusters like this, it was altogether too easy for a tumbling ball of earth or a well-placed whirlwind to barrel down several at once. Alto found himself moving more to avoid his own companions' attacks than attacks from the angels around him. But even with their ability to sweep angels at several per two or three spells, by the time Alto reached the center where Xeno and Popo stood, there were too many left to make life easy.

The gem in the hilt of the Song Stone glowed pink. Alto glanced down, then back up at the two witches closest to him. Popo grinned and took to the air, dashing off towards Mordimort with healing magic already sparkling at her hands. Xeno's eyes followed her on instinct. When his attention returned, Alto had one hand on the haft of his spear.

It was very nearly the same step as the last time he'd done this. Alto hooked himself around and used the spear and his own momentum to pull Xeno off balance. Xeno's wing very nearly smacked him upside the face, but he managed to duck in time to bring Xeno into a dip with his wings draped neatly over his arm.

"Xeno," he said in a low voice. Xeno's wings twitched. He smiled as the sunburst qualia appeared at his throat, and this time there was no hesitation in Alto's arm as he slid the Song Stone into place.

 _Xeno's wings flared outward from his back as music swelled around him. Light radiated from him as he clasped both hands against his chest, then threw one upward into the air. He rotated both arms out to the side, and his spear appeared in another blaze of orange-gold light. He curled his wings inward and spun into another of those complicated attack formations that looked more like a dance than something that could kill a man. He brought the spear in and, with one powerful wingbeat, threw himself into the air, raising it high above his head. Streamers of golden light billowed outward from its point, and then everything faded to white._

A pillar of golden light burst from Xeno's body. Every angel the light hit screamed as it was blown back several paces from the epicenter Xeno and Alto had caused. A rather large number of them, those who had already been wounded, simply evaporated into dust. Popo and Lisette let out a fierce cheer as the remaining angels began to twist and writhe, singing angrily against the voice that rang across the clearing. And then Sakuya dove in and sliced one's head clean off its shoulders, and the battle was rejoined.

For a moment it seemed like the remaining angels might actually regroup. Then another pulse of light rippled outward from Xeno's body, and they screamed again, lashing out wildly in any direction they could. Blinded, he realized as he ducked out of the way of one. Just like the first time. And now that they couldn't see what it was they were attacking on top of being crippled by the initial burst of magic, it was a matter of moments to sweep the last of them away.

The song faded. Xeno pulled his wings inward and looked around the clearing, his glaive gripped tight in his hands. For a moment no one spoke as they all regained their breath. Then Sakuya marched up to Xeno and grabbed him by the edge of one wing, jerking him down to her eye level.

"What were you _thinking?!"_

Xeno let out a startled hiss of pain. "There weren't that many when I landed! I thought I may as well head them off before they became a problem for the rest of you!"

"That's not how it works, idiot!" Sakuya released his wing and gave him a little shove. "Your problems _are_ our problems! How many times do we have to tell you that?!"

Alto looked at Sakuya, then at the others, confusion settling over his face. All five of the girls had varying stages of irritation in their expressions, and Xeno looked utterly chagrined. "Uh," he said. "I think I missed something here."

Hilda folded her arms. "Xeno has had trouble realizing he's part of a community again," she said, her eyes never leaving Xeno's.

"He keeps going back and forth between acting like he has to protect us and acting like we're going to beat him up," Sakuya said. She tugged at his wing again, but more lightly this time. "Look, how many times do we have to tell you this? If something weird happens, just come tell somebody! I don't care if it's your voice acting funny or if it's a troop of angels trying to interrupt dinner. Next time you do something stupid like this, we really will beat you up."

Xeno grimaced. "You're all surprisingly aggressive about this."

"Of course we are," Lisette said cheerfully. "You're one of us! We all have to take care of each other, and that means you, too. You have to let us take care of you sometimes. And if that means tying you to a tree so you don't run off and do anything dumb..."

Mordimort edged away from her. "She'll do it," she said to Xeno. "It's not fun. She did it to me once. No mor."

Alto looked around the entire group of them once again. Xeno looked entirely chastised, and Alto reminded himself, not for the first time, to never, ever find himself on the bad side of all five of them at once.

"Guys," he said instead, "we left the pot on the fire."

Lisette's eyes widened. "Our food!" she gasped. She caught up the long train of her skirt and broke into a run back towards camp. Mordimort and Popo were on her tail immediately, panic etched into both of their faces. Sakuya let out a groan of frustration and followed at a brisk pace. Hilda looked between Alto and Xeno, and then winked out of existence, reappearing beside Sakuya and walking with her until the two of them disappeared from sight.

Alto lifted an eyebrow at Xeno. "Overworking yourself again?"

Xeno grimaced. "I didn't think so. Apparently I was wrong."

"Realizing you're out of your depth is tough," Alto said with a shrug. "But they're right. You have them, and you have the rest of us. And you did make me a promise that you wouldn't get yourself hurt again."

"I haven't forgotten." Xeno's eyes went dim. His wings shifted forward, curling inward around his arms. "It's...hard to remember sometimes that I have real allies. It isn't something you grow used to in a day."

"No," Alto said in a softer voice. "It's not. But you'll get used to it. Especially with all of them bossing you around."

Xeno winced again, and the wing that Sakuya had grabbed twitched. "Don't remind me."

Alto laughed. "Come on," he said, starting back in the direction the girls had gone. "If we miss dinner, they're going to get even more pissed. I really don't want to give them any more reasons to be mad at you." Xeno managed a low chuckle. He fell into step beside Alto, and the two of them walked in silence together back towards camp.

Every now and again as they walked, Xeno's wing twitched sharply, as though trying to throw something off. Alto considered silently for a very long moment. Then he reached out with a hesitant hand and rested it against his wing, just over the place Sakuya had grabbed it. Xeno stopped short for half a second and flashed him an unreadable look. Alto met his eyes and waited, watching to see if he jerked away or made any other movement. But Xeno drew in a breath that shook a little around the edges and kept walking, and Alto left his hand exactly where it was, his fingers laced gently into Xeno's feathers, until they reached camp and Xeno finally pulled away.

* * *

 _Xeno's second conduct can be found at tinyurl **k3kmsr7.** We're almost there, folks._


	10. Nocturne

X - Nocturne

There was no moon tonight.

Alto hesitated only steps out from the door to the barracks and peered around in the darkness. When the moon was full, this place lit up with a light almost as bright as morning. Now the only lights were cast by the lamps set up at intervals along the path and the small lantern he held in one hand. Those were bright enough, but the shadows around them were deep enough to give him pause. Familiar things seemed to twist and darken in gnarled, nightmarish ways. But this place was safe. Nothing would reach for him, nothing would trip him, nothing would try to reach into his chest and...

He shook himself out and forced his breathing to grow steady. He was fine. Nothing was going to happen to him here.

Alto forced himself to walk. It was a long trek into the palace and upwards into its heights, especially when he found himself jumping at every noise and shadow. But he clenched his teeth and kept his feet moving. Part of him wanted to stay close to the ground, maybe walk the gardens or sit in the Tuning Hall where it was quiet, but that wouldn't solve the problem. Avoiding this would only make it worse. So he climbed upwards, listening to the echoes of his own footsteps bouncing along the wide marble staircases. The rich carpets and tapestries that lined the walls lit up with brilliant color as his lantern reached them, then sank back into grey and finally black. He had to fight back the sensation that they stopped existing the second he left them behind, a feeling as though he was moving through a space that only existed as long as he was casting light.

Finally he stepped out a final door and into clean, fresh air. Wind gusted through the pillars, tugging at the edges of his coat with a promise of oncoming autumn. This was the tallest of the towers, largest in circumference, meant to be a grand, central iteration of the smaller ones that encircled the palace. Alto's lantern shed light over an intricate and detailed mosaic floor. Colored tiles radiated outward from the center in hypnotizing geometric designs. If he stepped to the edge, he was sure he would see even the furthest reaches of Lambert, lit up with fluttering lanterns that mimicked the stars sprinkled overhead.

This wasn't where it had happened. That tower would be under reconstruction for some time yet. But it was good enough.

Alto doused the lantern. Darkness fell over him like a cloak. The delicate mandala beneath his feet disappeared. The pillars around him were now visible only as black, starless spaces against the starlit sky. An abruptly cold wind caught him, and he shivered, folding his arms in tight. That breeze seemed to carry voices with it as though from a great distance, memories of the things that had happened in a place very much like this one. But there was nothing here. No seething shadows. No bloodied faces. No imposing figure in white and gold, standing on the dais at the other side of the tower and laughing in a way he had never laughed before.

A rush of wings startled Alto out of his reverie. His blade all but sprang into his hand. He whirled towards the sound and charged, teeth already locked in a battle snarl as he brought the sword around in a deadly arc of steel—

" _Alto!"_

Alto jerked his arm back. He pulled the blow just enough for the silhouette to dodge to the side and avoid it. The sudden redirection of his own energy made him stagger, and then only thing that kept him from falling on his face was the pair of strong hands that caught him under the arms. His blade went clattering across the tile and out of his reach. He hung there for a second and forced himself to breathe. Forced his lungs to move slowly and evenly.

"Are you alright, Alto?"

Alto found his footing and pulled away from the hands supporting him. "I'm fine," he said, shaking himself out. "I'm... What are you _doing_ up here?"

Xeno drew back a pace at the sharpness of his voice. He held his posture as steady as if nothing had happened, but Alto could hear the agitated rustling of his feathers. "I needed some air," Xeno said. "There aren't many better places for that than the sky. I saw a light appear here and thought I should investigate, just in case."

A faint golden glow lit up between them. It took Alto a moment to realize the glow came from Xeno's oustretched hand. It grew brighter by the moment, spilling warmth over the edges of his palm, and lit up his face in a surprisingly steady way. Alto looked away until his eyes adjusted, and then glanced back at Xeno, who watched him with slightly raised eyebrows, asking the obvious question he wasn't ready to answer.

"It's starting to get cold up here," he said instead, folding his arms in close against his chest. "There's nothing to block the wind. We should probably—"

Xeno grabbed his arm in one vise-tight hand. He extended one massive wing between Alto and the edge of the tower. The breeze dropped off dramatically, and Alto locked his jaw tight, looking away. "There," Xeno said. "Listen to me, Alto. I don't need the power of a Conductor to see that you're lying to me. If it's nothing I can help with, then please, at least tell me that much."

He looked...earnest, in a way Alto hadn't seen from him in a long time. In a way not even Elcrest had seen from him in even longer. Alto bit down on the urge to tear away from Xeno's grip. This wasn't the same as last time. It wouldn't end the way it had before.

"I had a nightmare about the Anthem Program," he finally said, and felt Xeno full-body flinch. "It's— I didn't want you to feel guilty. You've already have enough of that. But I haven't been up in any of the towers since that day, and I thought...well, it's probably time I did something about this instead of just letting myself be scared for the rest of my life."

Xeno drew away from Alto. His wings pulled inward and slicked down against his back, and he looked out across the mosaic floor, and Alto found himself immediately missing the way those wings had shielded him. The wind was beginning to get colder now.

"I understand," Xeno said in a very low voice. "If it will make it easier for you, I can take my leave."

Alto hesitated. Part of him, and not a small part, wanted to tell Xeno to go. It was hard enough standing here in the darkness and remembering without him here, making the images that much more real just by his presence. But what good would that do either of them?

"I should know better," Alto said instead, keeping his arms folded close. "If it was one of the witches up here, I'd never let them get away with shutting me out, would I?"

Xeno smiled, just a little. "No. You wouldn't." He eased himself closer again and extended one wing. Alto stepped forward gratefully and rubbed his hands together, and that same little smile flashed across Xeno's face. "You really aren't built for the cold at all, are you?"

Alto grimaced. "Not really." He hesitated, then leaned just a little up against Xeno's wing. A startled ripple went through his feathers, puffing them out against Alto's face. "This is pretty nice, though. These things must keep you really warm."

"They're good for that, at least," Xeno said with a little laugh. His other wing twitched, and then it swept around as well, encircling Alto completely. Here in this small, warm cavern, the only light came from the warm seed Xeno held in his palm—and then he closed his hand, and even that vanished, drenching them both in soft darkness.

"Listen," Xeno said. "What do you hear?"

Alto closed his eyes. He could hear the whispering of the wind between the columns of the tower and the rustle of Xeno's shifting feathers. He could hear the murmuring of trees far below them. And faintly, soft as a whisper, came the sound of a distant melody.

"You hear her, right?" Xeno's voice was quiet now. "Even though the moon is on the opposite end of the planet from here, you can still hear her. Memories like the ones you have are much the same. When you've been hurt this badly, even if the event itself is far away now, there are always echoes. You can't just forget. Something happens, and the echoes come bouncing up to remind you of that hurt, and reminding yourself that it's over now doesn't help, because it _isn't_ over. Not while you can still hear it so clearly."

His hands came to rest on Alto's shoulders. "Building new memories can help soften those old ones. But that takes a very long time and a lot of hard work. You have to be willing to face those things and find ways to paint over them with new colors."

Alto grimaced faintly. "That's part of why I wanted to come up here, I think," he said. "If I just keep running away, that's all I'm going to do for the rest of my life."

He felt more than saw Xeno nod. "It's a good start. But as you've told me so many times, there's no reason for you to do it alone." The grip on Alto's shoulders tightened ever so slightly. "You said to me once that you wanted to become the sort of person I could rely on. You've succeeded, more than I ever expected. I was fragmented so badly that I didn't know who I was any more, but you've helped me put myself back together. And maybe it's selfish to say, after everything I've done, but I want to do the same for you."

Alto breathed out very slowly. Here in the darkness, surrounded by warmth and a gentle voice, the frantic pulse at the back of his skull was beginning to slow. Part of him still shivered at the cries and screams that ticked in the back of his mind. But here, right now, he could focus on the steady hands on his shoulders and the sound of the wind, and the faint melody that drifted on the breeze, and feel safe.

"You're doing a pretty good job of that, too," Alto said with a little laugh. He fed his arms around Xeno's waist and hugged him tightly, and he felt Xeno's spine go rigid, before he finally relaxed and let his own arms drape down Alto's back.

Somewhere the wind faded. A warmer breeze began to rise, curling gently around everything it touched. Far to the east came a faint blue light. The two figures wrapped up in each other on the high tower didn't see it just yet, but they didn't need to. It would come whether they knew it or not, whether they were ready for it or not.

The sun would rise.


End file.
